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His Majesty 
The Osburni Caribou Bull 



HUNTING IN THE 
UPPER YUKON 



BY 
THOMAS MARTINDALE 

M 
AUTHOR OF " SPORT INDEED, " WITH 

GUN AND GUIDE," ETC. 




PHILADELPHIA 

GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 






Copyright, 1913, 

By George IV. Jacobs & Company 

Published, October, 191 3 



'CI,A358004 



TO 

THE MEMBERS OF 
THE POOR RICHARD CLUB 
OF PHILADELPHIA 
In whose company I have spent so many happy hours 
amid such delightful associations, and especially 
to those members who conceived and so 
generously arranged for my "Wel- 
come Home from the Yukon" 
dinner, this book is af- 
fectionately dedi- 
cated. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I How It All Came About .... i 

II Up the Pacific Coast 30 

III "Put Forth Thy Hand — Reach at 

THE Glorious Gold" 41 

IV A Lost Moose 69 

V An Exciting Caribou Hunt ... 87 

VI Ursus Horribilis 94 

VII A Peculiar Stalk no 

VIII A Change of Base 128 

IX An Interesting Trail 141 

X The Effect of Age on Wild Animals 151 

XI Still Another Change of Base . . 159 

XII "How Much Will You Bet That 

You'll Not Kill a Bear To-day?" . 166 

XIII "It Never Rains But It Pours" . .175 

XIV Nazarhat Glacier 181 

XV Homeward Bound 188 

XVI The Slims Glacier 198 

XVII The Wonders of a New Land . . . 208 

XVIII An Indian Village 219 

XIX The Return to White Horse . . . 234 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XX The Discovery of a New Territory . 248 

XXI Three Notable Men 259 

XXII Three Notable Women 279 

XXIII An Interesting Trio 302 

XXIV An Accomplished Mountain Climber 310 
XXV The Moral 315 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

His Majesty, the Osburni Caribou Bull . Frontispiece 



TACINCi 
PAGE 



Map of Mr. Martindale's Route 12 

The Town of White Horse 44 

Suburb of White Horse 50 

The Start from White Horse 56 

An Indian Grave 62 

Husky Dogs on the March 72 

Mr. Martindale and Billie the Wild .... 84 

Mount Martindale 98 

Hoisting the Ram to the Pack Horse .... 106 

Martindale Glacier 114 

A Hard Mountain to Climb 130 

Five Mountain Ewes 156 

The Big Moose of Ethel Creek 162 

Silver Tip Grizzly Killed by Mr. Martindale . 172 

Shoeing a Horse in the Yukon 184 

Loading the Boat to Cross the Lake .... 196 

White Mountain Rams . . . ' 204 

Starting on the Return Trip 216 

Mr. and Mrs. Dickson's Cabin Home .... 236 

Mrs. Dickson and Family 242 

Kibbee's Indian Huntress in Her Cabin . . . 262 

Kibbee and the Bear 271 • 

Mrs. Harriet Pullen 294 

The Husky Dog 304 



THE UPPER YUKON 

CHAPTER I 

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 

"The way is long and cold and lone — 
But I go — 
It leads where pines forever moan 
Their weight of snow — 
Yet I go. 
There are voices in the wind that call, 
There are hands that beckon to the plain; 
I must journey where the trees grow tall, 
And the lonely heron clamers in the rain." 

— Hamlin Garland. 

IT has been my custom in recent years to 
invite in the fall many of the big game 
hunters living in Philadelphia to an evening's 
mutual "Experience Meeting" at my home. 

There each one is expected to narrate 
briefly the most exciting or the most novel in- 
cidents of his latest hunting trip. 

When the hunting season of 1909 was over 
and the participants in the hunting field had 



2 THE UPPER YUKON 

returned to the city, there were gathered one 
night around the fire of the open grate a score 
of hunters, some of them fresh from New 
Brunswick, others from Nova Scotia, New- 
foundland, Northern British Columbia, 
Northern Ontario, the Province of Quebec, 
the Yukon Territory, and Labrador. 

One by one they told the tales of their ad- 
ventures. Some of them were out of the ordi- 
nary, yet not at all startling, until the last 
man arose. As "an honest tale speeds best 
being plainly told," he narrated in a modest 
but graphic manner the history of a journey 
to the Upper Yukon and back which he had 
finished but a few days before. The descrip- 
tion given of the section of country hunted in, 
its wealth of wild animal life, its towering 
mountains capped with snow or Ice, its wide 
river beds, its invigorating climate, together 
with the fact that it was practically an un- 
known territory, held us spell-bound until he 
finished. Then came the eager questions of 
the guests as to the distance, the privations 
to be endured, the expense of such a trip, and 
the length of time needed to make it. 

When it was all over and the men had left 
the house, I went to bed, but I could sleep but 
little that night. The story excited my imagi- 



HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 3 

nation to such an extent that all of the homely 
remedies for insomnia failed me until near 
morning, and then the tired brain was heavy 
and I fell asleep. 

From that time on I was determined that 
sooner or later I would make the journey to 
this "Land of Promise" — this paradise for big 
game, this country where the days would be 
long and the nights would be short. Two 
hunting seasons to New Brunswick, Canada, 
and to my own camp in the Maine wilderness, 
had come and gone before opportunity and 
time favored the desire to journey to the 
North. Much planning was needed as to the 
outfit to start with; the supplies to be taken; 
the guides to be selected ; the number of horses 
which would be necessary; the rifles to be 
used. All of these details needed close con- 
sideration. 

With the kindly help and advice of Mr. 
Wilson Potter — the modest young man and 
splendid hunter whose story and experience in 
this country had so entranced me — all the dif- 
ficulties were cleared away, and on the even- 
ing of August I, 1912, accompanied by Dr. 
Morris J. Lewis, an eminent physician of 
Philadelphia, we left the steaming city upon 
our long journey. We were routed via To- 



4 THE UPPER YUKON 

ronto, Canada, and through the Great Lakes 
to Winnipeg, and from there by the Canadian 
Pacific Railroad to Vancouver. 

It seems that no matter when I leave the 
big city upon my annual hunting trip, let the 
month be August, September or October, it 
is my fate to leave on an extremely hot day. 
In the season of 1912, the day of departure 
from the heated city was no exception. It 
was hot on the street, and hot in the sleeping 
car. Our first stop was Buffalo, then Hamil- 
ton, Toronto, Port McNichol on the Georgian 
Bay, the "Soo" Canal, Port Arthur, Vancou- 
ver, Skagway and lastly White Horse, where 
we would outfit for the hunting territory, and 
when we left that famous little town we would 
be in "the land of adventure." 

When we pulled out from Broad Street Sta- 
tion, a woman, sitting in the seat across the 
aisle from us, had to change to the seat in 
front of us while her berth was being made. 
Her sole concern was how she could best take 
care of a great panama hat which was loaded 
with a pinnacle of artificial flowers. The 
porter brought her the largest sized paper bag 
that was made, but alack-a-day, it wouldn't 
cover it, and therefore she fretted and wor- 
ried as to how it might look in the morning. 



HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 5 

She tried to hang it up inside of the berth — 
it was too big. She feared to trust it in the 
upper berth, which was empty. The paper 
bag was stiff, and as she shifted it from one 
position to another, it was easy to imagine her 
heart-felt concern for her treasure. At last 
she got to bed and how she managed her pre- 
cious headpiece could only be guessed at by 
the cracking of the paper bag from time to 
time during the hot, humid hours of the night. 

In the early morning the weather turned 
cold as we were crossing the mountains; with 
the cold a dense fog set in, and you know that 
wouldn't be good for the "precious hat," or 
at any rate for the portion that wasn't covered. 
When the night had at last dwindled into 
morning and the morning into day, the 
woman appeared returning from the dressing- 
room, fully dressed, long before any other 
woman was up. As her fateful hat had pre- 
vented me from having a restful sleep, I, too, 
had gotten up, and we were thus the only two 
passengers "up and around" in the whole car. 

Quoth she to me: "You're from Philadel- 
phia, are you not?" 

"Yes, madam, I am." 

"I'm from New York — have always been 
in New York either in the city or the state. 



6 THE UPPER YUKON 

I've often thought of stopping ofif at Phila- 
delphia because I've been told it's a nice, 
pretty little place, and I do love towns that 
have lots of flowers; and then I believe you 
have manufacturers there, and they're so in- 
teresting — and the work-people are so inter- 
esting, there being so many foreigners among 
them. It makes the town sort of cosmopoli- 
tan, as it were, and that's always interesting, 
so really I must some time stop off and see 
your little town. I see you and your com- 
panion have rifles, and I suppose you're going 
hunting. Oh, how I should like to gp along 
with you, as I delight in adventure," etc., etc. 

So she rattled on, and, like the babbling 
brook, there was no damming her up. She 
was particularly savage against those of her 
sex who would monopolize the dressing-room 
of a sleeping-car for an hour at a time; she 
called such women "simple." 

I asked her if her hat had given her much 
trouble during the night, and she admitted 
that it had, that she had worried about it all 
night. I told her that if she went with us 
she'd have to ride horseback, and astride at 
that, and with her great hat on her head, with 
rifle, and a pair of riding breeches, she'd 
surely be an "interesting" sight to the wild 



HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 7 

game, whose favorite haunts are on the icy 
tops of the high mountains. 

As we were nearing the station at Buffalo 
in the morning, the passengers generally were 
astonished to see a young woman standing 
between the rails on a railway track without 
a hat, but with her head crowned with an 
enormous coiffure of red hair, while she was 
dressed in a very tight, black satin hobble 
gown — just that and nothing more. There she 
stood, feeling apparently as proud as a queen 
when the train slowly passed her, for she 
surely did attract attention, and what pleases 
some women more than that? 

A short distance further and a large sign 
on a building which we passed excited curi- 
osity, as it informed the public that here 
was "The Philadelphia House Wrecking 
Company." What an occupation and what a 
name for a business firm to use — "House 
Wreckers"! 

The porter now came with his whisk to 
brush us off. The brakeman called out "Buf- 
falo," the woman with the hat disappeared 
in the crowd, and the first stage of our jour- 
ney was over. Here we changed cars, and 
when the new train had run but a few miles 
we crossed into Canada. The train stopped 



g THE UPPER YUKON 

to permit the examination of the baggage. A 
dining-car porter came through the cars ask- 
ing for the owner of a locked satchel. He 
went through the dining-car and the parlor- 
cars without finding the owner, so the satchel 
was left at Bridgeport, the little town where 
customs are collected. 

The train sped on its way to Hamilton. A 
down-pour of rain visited the thirsty land, and 
as we were nearing Hamilton — the most beau- 
tifully located city in Canada — the owner of 
the satchel appeared. He had been in a 
smoking-car at the extreme front of the train 
and never gave a thought to the customs offi- 
cials. His error would make him lose per- 
haps a day before he regained his prop- 
erty. 

At Hamilton we were met by some of my 
relatives, and after a brief wait, we sped on to 
Toronto — the metropolis of the Province of 
Ontario. 

Toronto is situated upon a noble bay shel- 
tered from the winds of Lake Ontario by an 
island some two and a half miles from the es- 
planade front. The city has a gradual slope 
from the water of the lake up to the heights 
of a suburb formerly known as Yorkville, and 
spreads out east and west along the lake front, 



HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 9 

where the railroads and the lake vessels dis- 
charge and take on their cargoes of merchan- 
dise and of humanity. Toronto, at the pres- 
ent time, is a wonder among cities. The 
population is growing at the rate of thirty- 
five thousand a year. Six thousand houses 
had been erected within the previous year, and 
yet in a ride in an auto in the afternoon of 
one day, and the forenoon of another day, 
but three houses were discovered in that whole 
distance, with a sign "To Let" upon them. 
There is such an insistent and seemingly 
never-ending demand for houses to be rented 
that the builders cannot catch up with it. 

A Government House is now being erected 
which is to be the residence of the Lieutenant 
Governor of the province, where the great 
social functions and others will be held. 
Here the state balls, receptions, conferences 
settlements, concerts, addresses, and other af- 
fairs of state will make the Government 
House the center of social attraction in the 
Province of Ontario. 

Another notable building — I should say, 
palace — is undergoing erection, which when 
completed will be one of the sights of the 
town, one of the wonders of modern architec- 
ture and of lavish expenditure of money. It 



10 THE UPPER YUKON 

is for the housing and entertainment of one — 
man, with but one son to enjoy all of its 
grandeur and conveniences upon the death of 
its founder. Dame Rumor says it will cost 
over a million dollars. 

So much can be said of Toronto, of its rapid 
and startling growth, of the prosperity of the 
rank and file of its citizens, of its great uni- 
versity with its seven thousand students, of its 
technical colleges, its religious schools, its 
hockey, golf and baseball grounds, its social 
clubs, churches, cathedrals, manufactures, and 
princely business establishments, that they 
cannot all be chronicled here, as I must 
hasten on. 

We left Toronto at 12.45 ?• M. on Saturday, 
August third. The train was crowded with 
people, as indeed every other train was upon 
this particular day, because the following 
Monday was to be a civic holiday; hence the 
rush to get away from the city for a holiday 
from Saturday until the following Tuesday 
morning. 

There was to be a regatta for canoemen, but 
where we couldn't find out. Canoes seemed 
to be everywhere, on baggage trucks, in trains, 
on the sidewalks, and on wagons. To tell 
where they came from would be a puzzle, and 



HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT ii 

it's to be hoped that they were all found by 
their rightful owners. 

Our train landed us at a new port — not 
Newport — but a brand new port called Port 
McNichol, all owned and built by the Ca- 
nadian Pacific Railroad. This great trans- 
continental railroad it seems ^'doeth all things 
well." I have traveled over its rails from 
ocean to ocean; I have hunted in many sec- 
tions within the radius of its ramifications, 
and I have always found its employees to be 
courteous to, and considerate of, its passengers, 
its steamships clean and well appointed, its 
dining-cars well served, and its hotels a credit 
to the Dominion of Canada. 

As illustrating its solicitude for the comfort 
and convenience of its patrons, let me relate a 
single incident that happened twenty years 
ago. Two cars had been provided for myself 
and sixteen other hunters, one to eat and sleep 
in, and the other to house our hunting dogs, 
ammunition, decoys, trunks, tents and hunting 
paraphernalia generally. We came to a sta- 
tion called Maple-Creek, where a tribe of 
Cree Indians were then scattered about for 
miles in their tepees on the prairie. We did 
not know that the settlement was in the Alkali 
region, and that all of the water was almost 



12 THE UPPER YUKON 

undrinkable to those unused to it. Here some 
of the men were to leave for a trip to a range 
of mountains thirty miles away, to hunt cari- 
bou, while four or five of the men were to stay 
near the village to hunt wild geese, ducks and 
prairie chickens. 

My younger son and the writer were to be 
among the "stay-at-homes." After the cari- 
bou hunters had mounted their horses and 
faded away in the distance, we were surprised 
to find that the C. P. R. had detached a freight 
engine from a train at Crane Lake, twenty 
miles away, filled the tank of the engine with 
fresh water, and sent it to us. Half of its 
precious load of delicious water was given to 
us and the other half was needed to furnish 
steam to take the engine back to its train. 
This courtesy was repeated twice during our 
stay, and so far as I know this expensive kind- 
ness was done entirely without solicitation on 
our part, and it only goes to show what a pa- 
ternal care — if we may use the word — the 
company takes of its patrons. 

Port McNichol is planned upon such a 
scale as to provide room and conveniences for 
many years to come for the greatest possible 
increase in the traffic passing through the 
Great Lakes. 



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HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 13 

We left our train an hour late, and with a 
head wind and a cold night we were glad to 
take the steamboat and be in the shelter of a 
warm stateroom. Many of the passengers 
were going to the far West from the "Old 
Countries" of Europe — quite a number being 
from England. Their comments upon the 
sights and upon the fleet of passing vessels as 
our good ship, the Assiniboia, plowed her 
way through the inland sea, were good to hear. 
"Hope, eternal hope," and wonder were ex- 
pressed upon their faces in an unmistakable 
manner. When we came to the famous "Soo" 
Canal and our boat entered it, the crowds on 
the wharf who had come to meet friends on 
our steamer, or from idle curiosity, were of 
prime interest to the newcomers. 

Behind us were two tugs, one pushing and 
the other towing a big barge loaded with small 
poplar logs. This barge had to be deftly 
handled so as to get it in as close to the north- 
ern side of the canal as possible, and also it 
had to be brought near to the stern of our 
steamer so that both vessels could be locked 
through at one time. This situation retarded 
us considerably, so two of the newcomers 
with a little boy left the steamer and walked 
across the top of the front locks. They soon 



14 THE UPPER YUKON 

were wandering afield and time with them 
flew happily on. 

But now the vessel was moving — the locks 
were open, and we were fast leaving the en- 
trance to the canal when the men and boy- 
came hurrying and running back, gesticulat- 
ing for the ship to stop. "Stop! — Stop! 
— Dinna leave us," shouted one of them, with 
a strong Scottish accent. The captain rang 
the bell for the engines to stop. Men were 
sent to fasten a hawser to an iron post on the 
side of the canal where the men had strayed 
away. The vessel was warped slowly up to 
the concrete walls, and the truants were gath- 
ered in. There was much diversity of opinion 
both among the crew and among the passen- 
gers as to what the captain should have done, 
the majority declaring he should have left 
them on shore. One lady was asked by a man 
what sort of people these men were who had 
delayed us. She naively answered, "I would 
much rather that you should say it, and I will 
agree with you." And so he said it for her, 

and "it" sounded very much like "d 

fools." The captain could not have been 
blamed if he had left them, but such an act 
would hardly have been in harmony with the 
way in which the C. P. R. Company treats 



HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 15 

its patrons. This company is always most 
courteous and considerate, as those who have 
traveled over its lines can vouch. 

No one who has not made the journey 
through these inland seas — the Great Lakes — 
can have the faintest idea of the number and 
the size of the passing vessels, every one of 
which seems to be loaded to its limit. It 
must be remembered that most of the craft 
navigating these northern waters are built es- 
pecially for a particular class of trade, and 
to conform to the dimensions of the locks of 
these famous canals, one on the Canadian side, 
and the other on the American side. 

When we had passed through the canal we 
were then sailing on the cold waters of Lake 
Superior, which contains the greatest volume 
of fresh water of any lake in the world. The 
temperature changed to a lower reading of 
the thermometer and the passengers ransacked 
their trunks for woolen underwear, heavier 
clothing, sweaters and overcoats. When sup- 
per time arrived the weather glass was down 
to 49 degrees — a big contrast to the tempera- 
ture of but a day and a half before in Toronto, 
which was close to 90 degrees in the shade. 
Not many out of our large number of pas- 
sengers had the courage and hardihood to 



i6 THE UPPER YUKON 

walk the upper deck, and so the cabins below 
were crowded with those who were compelled 
to embrace the shelter of roof and heat. This 
immense inland sea with its cold waters must 
have a far-reaching effect on the atmospheric 
conditions of the surrounding country. The 
following morning was colder still, and as the 
glass had registered 40 degrees during the 
night, almost every one was anxious for a lit- 
tle more heat. 

The passengers were much pained to hear 
that a baby had died at about three in the 
morning and that the mother was so poor that 
the only covering she could give to the little 
corpse was a newspaper. Sympathetic women 
soon remedied this impoverished condition of 
things, and their kind ministrations made the 
good woman realize that to her the cruel 
world was not so bleak after all. It was a 
comfort to know that a kindly physician had 
been found among the passengers, and that the 
best help that medical skill could give had 
been tried without avail. 

The lake journey ended at Port Arthur, 
where we left the steamer with much regret 
and entered a waiting train which would be 
our traveling home until we arrived at the 
terminus of the line, the city of Vancouver. 



HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 17 

Port Arthur and Fort William are less 
than a mile apart, each town being the ter- 
minus of a railway connection, hence there 
is much rivalry between them. As each bor- 
ough has its own set of officials, it must be 
amusing — if not too dramatic — to the citizens 
to keep in touch with the official doings and 
methods of the two municipal rivals. 

As our steamer had been fighting a head 
wind from the "Soo" Canal all the way to Port 
Arthur, we were more than an hour late, so 
that when our first important city — Winnipeg 
— was reached we were too late to inspect any 
of its wonders. Twenty years before, in mak- 
ing this same journey across the Continent, a 
stop of three hours was made at Winnipeg. 
The growing city then boasted a population 
of over thirty thousand inhabitants. The citi- 
zens were then enthusiastic in their predic- 
tions of a future great and growing city, but 
they never dreamed of such a transformation 
as has taken place in the period covered by 
these two visits of twenty years apart. I re- 
member then standing in the main street, 
which I think is one hundred and thirty feet 
wide, and watching long lines of horses pull- 
ing heavy wagons loaded with wheat from the 
Red River territory of the North. A man, 



i8 THE UPPER YUKON 

who proved to be a banker of Winnipeg, was 
standing near by, and entered into conversa- 
tion with me. I confessed to a feeling of 
enraptured wonder at the enormous quantity 
of wheat that was being transported to the 
elevators, there to be loaded into the waiting 
railroad trains for transportation either to the 
Atlantic or to the Pacific, or to local points. 

^'Where do you live?" said the banker. . 

"In Philadelphia." 

"Well, you are now about a thousand miles 
north from Philadelphia. A thousand miles 
still farther north of us is more wheat, and 
better wheat, than that which you see passing 
to the elevators. In perhaps ten years from 
now this country north of us will be opened up 
by railroads and other forms of transportation. 
People will pour into it from the northern 
sections of your country, immigrants will ar- 
rive from Europe, Asia, and even Australia 
to till this fertile and easily farmed land, and 
then in a few years more a new empire to the 
north of us will be pouring its rich freightage 
of the products of these northern prairies 
into the lap of the then great city of Winni- 
peg." 

At that time his talk made but a fleeting im- 
pression upon my mind, but can you not see 



HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 19 

how prophetic it was? Do you realize that, 
in the twenty years since then, the population 
of Winnipeg has grown to nearly three hun- 
dred thousand people? Do you know that 
another great transcontinental railway, hav- 
ing a terminus on the Pacific Coast five hun- 
dred miles north of the terminus of the 
C. P. R., is nearly completed and that it even 
now passes through Winnipeg? Do you 
realize that some day in the near future — say, 
in another score of years — Winnipeg may 
boast of a population of a million? The pres- 
ent growth of this wonderful city has meant 
the erection of large manufacturing plants, of 
great distributing wholesale houses, the ac- 
cumulation of rich iDanks and other deposi- 
tories for the capital needed to finance the 
movement of the crops, the building of sub- 
sidiary lines to the trunk lines of rails, the 
erection of schools, colleges, churches, thea- 
ters, skating rinks, public halls, new sewage 
disposal plants, public buildings, etc., etc. 
What the needs of the next twenty years will 
be, no living man may predict. It is a timely 
thing to dwell for a little upon the fairy-like 
story of Winnipeg's growth in a single score of 
years, because it is an illustration of what sev- 
eral other Canadian towns and cities have ex- 



20 THE UPPER YUKON 

perienced in the same period. Calgary, Maple 
Creek, Moosejaw, Saskatoon, Regina, Revel- 
stoke, Edmonton on the Saskatchewan, West- 
minster, and particularly Vancouver, all have 
been blessed with a prosperity beyond the 
wildest dreams of the average citizen of twenty 
years ago. The question may well be asked, 
how has it come about that this unprecedented 
growth and expansion of a new empire to the 
north of the United States has proceeded along 
a constant and well-developed line? 

The answer is not a difficult one. 

First, by the cultivation of the ground by 
the residents and the ever-incoming hordes of 
farmers — men of capacity in the tilling of 
the extended fertile wheat belts of land that 
were to be had for a price almost akin to noth- 
ing. Next, by the ease with which capital 
could be obtained from the Mother Country, 
"the tight little island" called England, to 
finance the various enterprises made neces- 
sary by the ever-increasing population, and 
third, by the opening up of new sections of 
virgin land to modern methods of scientific 
farming. 

Another reason may be found in the fact 
that while Canada cannot boast of having 
nearly as many laws on her statute-book as 



HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 21 

her great neighboring Republic to the south 
of her, yet what laws she has are generally 
well enforced; so that, although the immi- 
grants that have poured into her domain are 
made up of Russians, Poles, Serbs, Bulgars, 
Italians, Chinese, Japanese, Laplanders, Scan- 
dinavians, French, Spaniards, Portuguese, 
Germans, Turks and Arabs, besides a host 
from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England 
herself, they all bow to the laws of their 
adopted country. 

Therefore, as law and order have been uni- 
formly maintained in all of the provinces and 
territories of the Dominion of Canada, cap- 
ital has been safe, as well as the lives and prop- 
erties of the great public at large. 

It is a remarkable tribute to the efficiency 
and the administration of the law by the Ca- 
nadian Judiciary that the Dominion has been 
able to assimilate all of the discordant human 
factors that make up her population and weld 
them together into one harmonious and indus- 
trious whole. 

There has been nothing in the world's past 
history that has ever approached this devel- 
opment of a new country-empire (may we 
so call it?) in such a short space of time, and 
that, too, without the use of military force, 



22 THE UPPER YUKON 

war, or even "rumors of war." It is true that 
migrations have often occurred in ancient 
times, but generally they were caused by the 
forceful ejection of tribes, or communities of 
people who were driven out from their home- 
land, either because of religious or racial con- 
tentions, or from some other compelling cause, 
which made a wholesale evacuation of a large 
population an absolute necessity for the pro- 
tection of life, and the possible enjoyment of 
peace and happiness. 

The migration into Canada has ever been 
a peaceful one, and such may it always remain 
in the future. It is not hard to predict that 
the close intermingling and the intermarriage 
of a conglomeration of many foreign races 
will result in the creation of a new type of 
manhood — a new cosmopolite race, having the 
industrious and economical ideals and meth- 
ods of these various foreign races blended 
with the artistic, law-abiding, scholastic, opti- 
mistic, self-reliant, and courageous ideals of 
the descendants of the original English, 
Scotch, Irish and French settlers of Canada. 

From the pen of the brilliant writer, Agnes 
Dean Cameron, comes this timely paragraph: 
"On the benches of one schoolroom in Ed- 
monton I found children who had been born 



HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 23 

in Canada, the United States, England, Scot- 
land, Russia, New Zealand, Poland, Switzer- 
land, Australia and Austria-Hungary. They 
were all singing "The Maple Leaf Forever!" 
It is the lessons these children are to learn 
in that little red schoolhouse, which will de- 
termine the future of Canada, and not the 
yearly take of forty-bushel wheat. In the 
past, nations out of very fatness have decayed. 
Many signs here are full of hope." 

At Winnipeg, berths were taken in sleep- 
ing-cars that were to be our traveling home 
until we arrived at Vancouver. The train 
was filled with just as many (if not more) 
different races and conditions of people as we 
had met on the steamer, the largest number of 
any one class being from Great Britain. 

Isn't it curious how the average Englishman 
on his travels will find fault with everything 
that is new and strange? Being an English- 
man myself, I have perhaps noticed this pecu- 
liarity more than a born American would. 
For to them there is nothing done anywhere 
"like it is done in England, you know." 

A friend of mine — also an Englishman — 
had a friend who came to Philadelphia on a 
visit. This man was interested in the con- 
struction of bridges, so my friend, whose name 



24 THE UPPER YUKON 

was Knight, took the man out in a carriage 
and drove him all around the city and its en- 
virons and allowed him to inspect every one 
of the numerous bridges that cross the Schuyl- 
kill River. Each bridge was carefully ex- 
amined, and at the end of each inspection the 
man would praise it faintly, and then start with 
his ''buts." It was not like this or that bridge 
in England, "you know." Finally the Girard 
Avenue bridge, built and opened about the 
time of the Centennial Exhibition in 1876, 
was reached. This bridge is generally con- 
sidered to be a model of architectural beauty, 
and as Dr. Knight explained its cost, the time 
taken in its erection, and its dimensions, the 
man was so much impressed with it that he 
made a tour of the upper and lower decks, 
and also went down to the river's edge to look 
it over from water level. Then he com- 
menced to praise it, but soon having exhausted 
all the compliments that he could find to say 
in its favor, he came to the inevitable "but." 

Dr. Knight at once lost his temper. "Oh, 
damn your 'buts' — what's the matter now?" 

"Don't be angry, doctor," the man replied. 
"I was just going to say that the bridge is 
creditable in every respect, but it doesn't have 
as many people crossing it as London Bridge." 



HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 25 

Now there were a number of just such peo- 
ple on our transcontinental train, most of them 
being bound for the terminus of the line, and 
it was very amusing to listen to their criticisms 
of the country, the people, the railway, and 
more particularly the climate. One woman 
said: ''The 'eat is a roastin' of me. I never 
in my life suffered from so much 'eat." The 
good woman was wearing clothes heavy 
enough for an Alaskan climate. She had an 
" 'at" made of felt, large enough in dimen- 
sions to cover an ash-barrel, and this she in- 
sisted on putting on and wearing on the plat- 
form of the station every time the train would 
stop for a period of fifteen minutes or more, 
as it did when changing engines or stopping 
at lunching stations. 

In a few months or years these same people, 
when finally down to work in their varying oc- 
cupations, will readily become acclimated and 
fall into the "New Land's" way of doing 
things. They then become earnest boosters 
for Canada to their home people, and the time 
is but short until they induce some of their 
relatives or friends to come and spy out the 
wonders of this new promised land. 

Our train pulled into Vancouver on time, 
and the journey across the Continent was com- 



26 THE UPPER YUKON 

pleted. This was another city that I had vis- 
ited a score of years before, and, in keeping 
with Winnipeg and other growing cities of 
the Dominion, its development during this 
period has been equally astonishing. 

In this time a great fire had swept over the 
city, which might well have blasted all of its 
future growth, yet the grave disaster only 
stimulated it to further exertions, enlisting 
men of all classes and ranks to help in the 
building of a new and greater Vancouver. I 
did not recognize the place at all — it was so 
different from the city that I had seen on the 
same soil in the year 1892. The fire turned 
out to be a blessing in disguise after all, be- 
cause the new city was developed and erected 
on a larger plan, with modern methods and 
modern standards, the result now being an 
enormously increased population with an in- 
flow of new capital on a scale commensurate 
with the new conditions. Enthusiasm and 
harmony prevail in the community, and it 
would seem that every individual unit of the 
population was bent on doing something or 
saying something to help the growth and ex- 
pansion of the city. In talking of It the resi- 
dents of both high and low degree were equally 
optimistic of the future greatness and exten- 



HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 27 

sion of their city and equally proud of its 
present status as well. A community that 
works together for the common good as earn- 
estly as the citizens of Vancouver and Winni- 
peg are doing, is bound to grow in wealth and 
influence. 

I was fortunate enough to meet the Hon. H. 
H. Stevens, member of the Dominion Parlia- 
ment for Vancouver — and, by-the-way, he is 
the representative in Parliament of the most 
populous constituency in the Dominion of 
Canada. His career will fittingly illustrate 
in itself the opportunities of advancement in 
wealth, position, influence, and standing in the 
community that await the men or women who 
realize when "opportunity knocks at their 
door" and who have the wisdom to embrace it. 

Mr. Stevens is comparatively a young man, 
and but sixteen years ago was driver of a stage 
that ran from Siccamus — a station on the 
C. P. R. — to Vernon, a small town at the head 
of Okanogan Lake in British Columbia. 
The Earl of Aberdeen, formerly Governor- 
General of Canada, owns large tracts of land 
on the shores of this famed lake, where cattle 
raising is conducted on one side, and fruit 
growing on a large scale is carried on upon 
the other. 



28 THE UPPER YUKON 

From stage driving, young Stevens, having 
come to Vancouver, became a real estate agent 
upon a small scale. He took an interest in 
politics and being helped by his brother-in- 
law, a bright and forceful young man, he was 
elected an Alderman of the city of Vancouver. 
He was then, as now, a sturdy advocate of the 
rights of the common people as against cor- 
porate influence. In other words, he was the 
champion of the people. They realized this 
fact, and when the next general Dominion elec- 
tion for representatives to Parliament came 
up, he, being the candidate of the Conservative 
party, was elected by a large majority, and he 
now represents his constituency in the present 
Parliament. 

I talked wath a number of men about him, 
because I was really much interested in him, 
having made his acquaintance at a lecture he 
gave in Philadelphia a year or more before, 
and in substance every man said the same: 
"Stevens is the best man we could possibly 
have as a member of Parliament, because he 
always looks out for the common people, and 
at the same time he is fair and square with 
the corporations and so has their respect and 
co-operation." 

Mr. Stevens was good enough, in conjunc- 



HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 29 

tion with his brother-in-law, to take us 
through the city and its beautiful suburbs in 
.an automobile, and thus gave us an opportu- 
nity of seeing with our own eyes the "why and 
wherefore" of Vancouver's steady growth and 
of her plans for the future. We thus had the 
additional benefit of the explanation given us 
by these two up-to-date men. It is one thing 
to ride through a city with a chauffeur, and 
another thing to be accompanied by men who 
know the "ins and outs" of the city, its accom- 
plishments, and its aspirations. 



CHAPTER II 

UP THE PACIFIC COAST 
"The air breathes upon us here most sweetly." 

LEAVING Vancouver on August loth at 
1 1.40 P. M., we soon were speeding north 
in a steamer that ran as smoothly and as 
quietly as any one could wish for. The fol- 
lowing morning we were favored with mild 
weather, but had to face a head wind. Among 
the passengers were five big-game hunters, 
bound for the Gassier District in Northern 
British Columbia. One of them is a famous 
surgeon of Milwaukee, Dr. H. A. Sifton, who 
was born in London, Canada, my old town 
where I spent many of my boyhood days. He 
was accompanied by Robert A. Uihlein of 
Milwaukee, a sturdy athletic young man who 
has large business interests in that city. He 
is compelled to take to hunting so as to balance 
up for his close devotion to business pursuits. 
Then came J. A. Burnham, a hunter just 
fresh from Sumatra, where he had been after 
elephants and other big game. He was ac- 



UP THE PACIFIC COAST 31 

companied by his young wife, who seemed to 
be getting weary of "globe trotting." She 
was longing for some place where they could 
settle down and live a quiet life with their two 
little children. 

Next came a self-made and confident man 
from Victoria, B. C. He was going to Dease 
Lake, up the Stikine River, and would carry 
a pack of eighty pounds overland besides his 
6-50 caliber Mannlicher rifle. This man 
knows the "how" of hunting by himself, doing 
his own cooking and going into an unknown 
section of country with confidence in his abil- 
ity to "make good" and get out again in safety. 

We soon became acquainted with all, and 
as they were to be with us until we reached 
Fort Wrangell, in Alaska, the time passed 
quickly and we mutually enjoyed each other's 
society. 

From Fort Wrangell they were to take a 
small power boat called the Black Fox, which 
we afterwards saw. She is about forty feet 
long, covered over with canvas, and very 
narrow. She was to take the whole party up 
the swift Stikine River — a journey of nearly 
five days — to Telegraph Creek, where they 
were to outfit. On the return trip she can 
run down in about ten or twelve hours. 



32 THE UPPER YUKON 

Telegraph Creek got its name in a very 
curious manner. Some forty-seven years ago 
the Western Union Telegraph Company ran 
a line of wires via the "Ashcrof t Trail," which 
starts in at the town of that name, located on 
the C. P. R. system about two hundred and 
forty miles from Vancouver. The Western 
Union's purpose was to carry this line up to 
>Behring Strait and lay a cable under that 
body of water — which is but a few miles across 
— and then build a line to St. Petersburg, to 
Paris, and other European capitals, and finally 
to London. 

When the line reached this creek, a message 
came that the Atlantic cable, just laid, was a 
complete and successful line, and was then in 
operation. The engineer corps in charge of 
the work of stringing this overhead line was 
ordered back to New York. Thus the creek 
became known as Telegraph Creek. 

In the Bear River country, in Upper Brit- 
ish Columbia, I came across several bridges 
built by Indians with the wire left stranded 
from this abandoned line. They would fasten 
the wires firmly to trees or rocks on each side 
of a canyon or stream, and then lay boards- 
sawed with the whip saw — over the wires. 
The bridge work was rude, but it was safe and 



UP THE PACIFIC COAST 33 

lasting, and that was all that the Indians 
required. 

Now Telegraph Creek boasts of a Hudson 
Bay Company's store, and another general 
merchandise store, together with a church and 
a hotel, and quite a cluster of small houses. 

Mr. W. B. Close, of London, England, the 
man who had the pluck and ability to finance 
the White Horse Pass Railroad, and his sec- 
retary, Captain Gordon Cummings, also an 
Englishman, were aboard the boat. Mr. 
Close's trip was to explore a new section of 
country in which large deposits of copper have 
been found, and perhaps his visit may lead to 
the building of a new railroad in this virgin 
section of the Yukon Territory. 

Four priests and three nuns helped to add 
variety and interest to the more than one hun- 
dred passengers that were crowded into the 
steamer. 

One of the most Important of the passen- 
gers — Mr. Treadgold — is an Englishman, and 
the most noted gold-mine operator in the 
Klondike field. He told us about a man who 
conducted a novel method of transportation 
in the Klondike rush days. This man in- 
stalled a strong cable across a deep canyon, 
through whose valley all the supplies to the 



34 THE UPPER YUKON 

Klondike would have to be carried both down 
and up its steep banks. He charged $ioo a 
ton for carrying the freight across by means of 
his cable, and the man admitted that he coined 
money as long as the rush lasted. 

Mr. Treadgold was full of anecdotes of 
those days, which throw some light upon the 
desperate chances men took during that cru- 
cial time, and the hardships they endured. 

At Dyea, a closed house had this legend 
written on the door, "Klondike or Bust." The 
owner went to the Klondike and later on he 
returned from his venture, erased the first two 
words, and "Bust" was left. It told the story 
as eloquently as a whole book could have told 
it. 

Over the door of a house occupied by a 
white woman, these words in large bold letters 
were written, "Fortunes Told," and in small, 
letters as if to be spoken in a whisper, "Wash- 
ing Taken." Who is there who could not see 
the tragic side of that mute message? 

A squaw was asked, "Whom did you marry, 
an Indian?" 

"No." 

"Did you marry a white man then?" 

"No." 

"Well, whom did you marry?" 



UP THE PACIFIC COAST 35 

^'A Scotchman," she said. 

Some gold seekers on a train on the C. P. R. 
were made very angry by the repeated changes 
in time, always of an hour later, as they jour- 
neyed farther and farther from the rising sun. 
The last change was made before reaching 
Vancouver, and in their eagerness to get to 
the fabled land of gold and adventure, many 
of them cursed the train people for making 
them "lose" so much time. A wandering He- 
brew silenced them, however, by saying: 
"Vel, don't ve get once an hour's traveling 
mitoud paying notings for it?" 

Our steamer stopped at Alert Bay, Port 
Simpson, and Prince Rupert. This last town 
will be the terminus of the New Grand 
Trunk Pacific Railroad, which will not be in 
operation as far as this port for a year and a 
half, or until 1914. The town site is not at- 
tractive. It is covered with high rocks 
through which several openings for streets 
have been blasted. There are perhaps a 
dozen stores here — ^some of them being quite 
pretentious, while a couple of churches look 
after the spiritual wants of the populace, and 
branches of two big Eastern banks take care of 
the financial end. The prices asked for store 
sites seem to be outrageously high. Opposite 



36 THE UPPER YUKON 

a liquor store were two vacant lots which be- 
longed to the Canadian Government and were 
to be sold by it on the 28th of August. It 
was expected that they would bring $90,000. 
A corner lot of forty feet front was offered 
for sale at $54,000. 

A Welshman, who owns a fruit store, en- 
deavored to interest us in its purchase by 
offering the frame building for $10,000, the 
ground for $40,000, and an assortment of fresh 
vegetables, oranges, meat, etc., he said he 
would throw in as an additional inducement. 
This man had been through the Boer War in 
South Africa, had come to Prince Rupert in 
the very early days, and had bought his bit 
of ground when it was not so " 'igh" in price 
as it is now. 

We were of the opinion that many investors 
in building lots here would be cruelly sur- 
prised by a big drop in prices before very 
long. 

At Port Simpson we heard that the Great 
Northern Railroad Company was trying to 
purchase 500 acres of bay-front for a ter- 
minal, but so far had been unable to acquire 
the desired land. Port Simpson has but a few 
scattered houses, a couple of churches, one so- 
called hotel, a stone monument to the memory 



UP THE PACIFIC COAST 37 

of the late chief of a tribe of Indians that re- 
side here, and on the opposite side of the bay 
a lot of empty houses which were erected in 
the belief that a railroad was surely going to 
use the port as a terminal. 

We were very much interested in Fort 
Wrangell. The Alaska Sanitary Cannery is 
located here, where they pack the salmon as 
they come in from a salmon trap a few hun- 
dred yards from the cannery. It may well be 
called a "sanitary cannery," because every- 
thing is as clean as the cleanest home kitchen. 
There is not a particle of disorder in the can- 
nery and the noble-looking fish, as they lie 
on the racks before being cleaned, are very 
enticing to the appetite as well as to the 
eye. 

A man who had been engaged in seal hunting 
for years walked around the village with me. 
We saw a small shop with its front window 
filled with sealskin slippers. My friend said 
that if I wanted to buy a pair of them he 
would pick them out for me. This he did, 
and I asked the proprietor — a fat, stupid-look- 
ing man — what the price was. 

"Two dollars," he answered. 

In an endeavor to take a "rise" out of him, 
I asked if that was the best he could do. 



38 THE UPPER YUKON 

"Yes, sir," he replied. "I can't make them 
there slippers no less." 

"Don't you take anything off for minis- 
ters?" 

"Hell, no; there's nothin' to take off." 

I turned towards the door as if I was going 
to leave. 

He at once called to me: ''Say, I'll tell ye 
what I'll do, if you'll buy this pair of slippers, 
I'll wrap them up in the last edition of our 
town paper, which costs five cents." 

This was assented to. The "town paper" 
was produced and duly wrapped around the 
slippers. The whistle of the boat sounded 
the signal that she was about to leave, and 
we hurried back to her, and when aboard we 
eagerly looked through the little paper to get 
the news contained in this "last" edition. It 
was now close to the middle of August, and 
the date of the paper was February first. It 
was evidently the very "last" edition, as one 
of the passengers said the paper had ceased 
its publication on that particular day. That 
man was not so stupid as he looked. 

In due course of time we arrived at Skag- 
way, several hours late. The train for White 
Horse had waited for us, so that there was 
much hurrying to and fro to get aboard the 



UP THE PACIFIC COAST 39 

train with our belongings — trunks, satchels, 
rifles, and suit-cases. 

This done, with a toot of the steam whistle 
of the Baldwin locomotive, which pulled our 
train, we were ofif for a ride over the famous 
narrow-gauge White Pass Railroad. This 
road is perhaps the most talked about of any 
small railroad in the world. It is but a hun- 
dred and ten miles long, but the difficulties of 
its construction and the attendant cost, have 
made it one of the greatest engineering feats of 
the world's history. 

For a short distance the train runs over the 
old White Pass Trail. It was over this trail 
that the hordes of gold seekers slaved and 
toiled along their weary way in i897-'98. 
The men were pack-laden, yet eager-hearted 
and hopeful, most of them believing that 
Dame Fortune would surely smile on them 
after all their labors and hardships. 

Our locomotive sputtered and worried up 
the steep ascent until Dead Horse Gulch was 
reached, where hundreds of tired and over- 
laden horses in the lively times of these two 
'fabled years, unable to go any farther, tottered 
and fell over the sharp edge of the slippery 
mountain, down — down, into the weird depths 
of the forbidding-looking canyon below. 



40 THE UPPER YUKON 

Next came a section where the train seemed 
to be crawling under huge boulders, and then 
hanging almost by the teeth above an almost 
bottomless abyss with a foaming stream tear- 
ing through it. Here was a notable bridge 
spanning a canyon two hundred and fifty feet 
deep and here the White Pass trail was left 
behind. After a ride of an hour and a half 
we reached White Pass Summit, three thou- 
sand feet above sea level. Here the Stars and 
Stripes and the red flag of Britain float side 
by side, because it is the boundary line be- 
tween the United States and the Yukon Terri- 
tory, belonging to the Dominion of Canada. 
If you want to, you can stand with one foot 
on British soil and the other on Uncle Sam's 
possessions. 



CHAPTER III 

"put forth thy hand— reach at the 

GLORIOUS gold" 

SIXTY-NINE miles away from Skagway, 
we reach the town of Caribou. Here is 
a college or advanced school for Indian girls, 
where the eldest daughter of our head guide- 
to-be is a student. Although he is a white 
man, born in Canada, yet the girl's mother is 
an Indian woman. 

Here you may take the steamer Gleaner 
for the Atlin Gold Fields. At Taku you 
leave the steamer and ride on a train to Atlin 
Lake, and for a few minutes we will talk 
about the gold mines of this particular 
vicinity. 

Like many another man, I have frequently 
been induced to invest more or less money in 
gold mines. I regret to say that my judgment 
has been very bad in their selection, as I do 
not recollect ever having received a single dol- 
lar in return therefrom. 

Among these much-vaunted prospective 



42 THE UPPER YUKON 

mining enterprises was one that promised sure 
and large dividends, because of the fact that 
the proposed company would control the wa- 
ters of a considerable sheet of water called 
Atlin Lake. 

The projectors laid much stress on their 
plan of having a large and powerful dredge 
built in San Francisco; the same to be for- 
warded piece-meal to this lake at an enor- 
mous expense of time and money. When it 
arrived and was finally put together, with 
boilers and all the attendant machinery in- 
stalled, it was calculated that they would move 
the dredge to and fro over the water, and lift 
up the rich sand from the bottom. They 
would then abstract the abundant gold dust 
from it at little cost, and thus realize large 
dividends in return. Such was the plan. 

A rather "windy" promoter visited the 
large cities of the East, including New York 
and Philadelphia, carelessly carrying with 
him numerous big nuggets of gold in a bag 
to show to the prospective stock buyer how 
easy it would be under their novel plan of 
mining, to lift barrels of just such nuggets 
from the depths of the lake. 

The season when work of this kind could 
be done in this sterile and cold country be- 



"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 43 

ing very short — in fact, only about six weeks — 
the assembling of the component parts of the 
mammoth dredge was rushed to completion, 
and yet it was too late to be of service during 
that particular season. 

The following one, however, found every- 
thing ready for lifting the precious metal to 
the surface. The machinery was started and 
the big dredge was towed to the most favor- 
able place to make the richest and quickest 
hauls of golden nuggets. 

What happened? 

The great bucket descended over and over 
again to the bottom, but nothing ever came 
up. It was whispered about that the floor of 
this part of the lake was all paved with gi- 
gantic boulders, and so the dredge was taken 
to another portion of the lake, but with the 
same result. After vainly endeavoring to find 
a place at the bottom where sand and gold 
might be found, with no boulders to interfere 
with the dredge, the idea was abandoned and 
once more "Hope, Eternal Hope" was shat- 
tered. 

Nearly a half-million dollars had been ex- 
pended in building and getting the dredge 
ready for its work, in addition to salaries to 
the so-called engineers and commissions to the 



44 THE UPPER YUKON • 

sellers of stock, and now ruin stared all of the 
officials in the face. The very simple precau- 
tion of having the bottom of the lake explored, 
before making such a costly experiment, had 
never apparently been thought of. 

There was nothing to be done but to leave 
the dredge where it was, and so when a man — 
any man — wanted something that could be 
removed from it, he came and took what he 
needed, and there was "none to say him nay." 
So the small army of "succors" who had lis- 
tened to the siren voices of the "windy" pro- 
moters received no returns for their hard- 
earned investment in the "British American 
Dredging Company." 

I tell this story because it is typical of so 
many similar gold-mining fakes, trusting that 
it may act as a brake to the eagerness with 
which men part with their money to follow 
the "Will-o'-the-wisp" in vainly searching for 
gold in far-away countries. 

About ten years ago a young man from New 
York with nearly two hundred thousand dol- 
lars in cash came into a district one hundred 
and seventy-five miles from Atlin and near the 
head of another notable lake. This young 
man had no practical knowledge of mining. 
He was but a youth — inexperienced in the 




m 



"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 4^ 

world's ways. He had a hobby, and that 
hobby was to have plenty of bosses. It is 
said that at one time he actually had thirty- 
five superintendents and bosses, with only five 
real workmen to dig for the gold and to do 
all of the work. He became fascinated with 
the many lures in and around the lively town 
of White Horse. "Wine, women, and song" 
did for him what it has done for thousands 
of other men, and so his mining experience 
was fitful and erratic. The inevitable end 
came sooner than was expected. His money 
vanished, he ran into debt, the work on the 
mine was shut down, the houses for the oper- 
ators and the road-house for visitors which 
had been built at heavy expense were left to 
the mercies of wind and rain. 

The valuable machinery and tools, besides 
the livestock, were mostly left uncared for, 
and the buildings, though still standing, are 
rapidly going to ruin. In such a fashion 
came the ending of another gold-mining 
dream. 

As I rode through this "deserted village" 
one day, not a living thing could be seen, — 
not even a dog. We saw the untenanted 
houses with wide-open doors as if beckoning 
some one to come in and occupy them. The 



46 THE UPPER YUKON 

famous road-house and its big stable were go- 
ing to wrack and ruin and I wondered how 
and where the youthful owner could ever rec- 
ompense himself for his folly and incompe- 
tence, 

"Gold — all gold— this is fairy gold, boy, 
and 'twill prove so" — and so it did prove. 
The youth wended his way back to the me- 
tropolis a much chastened and humiliated 
young man. 

In due time the train arrived at White 
Horse, after passing through gorges and 
mountains and over circling bridges, including 
the great cantilever bridge spanning a can- 
yon two hundred and fifty feet deep. We 
were five hours late, and reached the famous 
town of White Horse at 9.30 P. M. in place of 
4.30. The custom house closes here at 4.30, 
but the Chief Officer of this department was 
courteous enough to be on hand to inspect our 
baggage, which he did in a few minutes, so 
that we were permitted to remove it to the 
hotel that night. 

The Hotel White Horse is a clean, well- 
managed inn, with a woman in charge of the 
house proper, while a man controls the liquid 
end. A stout woman has charge of the cook- 



"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 47 

ing and eating department, for which she ex- 
pects a goodly sum from each traveler for the 
food that he eats. Thus the hotel is run un- 
der a sort of a tripartite management. 

I lay down on my bed to wait while my 
partner took a hot bath (there was but one 
bath-room) and while waiting for him to get 
through with his ablutions I fell asleep. I 
was awakened by a chorus of voices singing a 
familiar song — "We'll not go home till 
mornin' " — and they were telling the truth, 
as it was then nearly one o'clock in the morn- 
ing. The noise of singing came from a lot of 
citizens who were doing the honors to a major 
of the Northwest Mounted Police, who had 
recently been promoted to a higher position. 

In the morning we got out our hunting togs 
and donned them for the first time for use in 
the hard work of the days to come. We left 
everything that couldn't be used, or rather that 
wouldn't be absolutely needed in the hunt, in 
our trunks, until our return. After break- 
fast, the first thing in order was to see that 
the men, the horses, and the supplies to be 
taken with us, were ready for an early start. 

The evening before we had met Thomas A. 
Dickson, the head guide; Louie Jaquotte, the 
wrangler; and Eugene, his brother, the cook. 



48 THE UPPER YUKON 

They said that in the morning everything 
would be in readiness, but it was not. There 
was still much preparation to be made, not 
only during the early morn, but all the fore- 
noon. 

In the previous month, July, one thousand 
nine hundred and twenty-eight pounds of sup- 
plies had been sent ahead of us to a central 
camp over two hundred miles away. Now 
we had to take the necessary supplies with us 
to last us on the journey until that point was 
reached. 

The outfitters of merchandise seemed to de- 
sire to prolong our stay in White Horse rather 
than to help us to start on our way, and they 
couldn't or wouldn't be hurried, so that when 
we finally did leave, we went without our in- 
voice for the supplies. 

At 2.30 P. M. a four-horse wagon drove up, 
followed by a two-horse rig. A few bags, 
cases, and bundles of supplies were loaded 
into the big wagon together with a large bolt 
of tent cloth and a coil of rope. At four 
o'clock two mules and a horse were brought 
to the front of the outfitters' stores, and we 
were told to mount our steeds. 

I found that instead of "the finest saddle 
horse in the Yukon," which Dickson had 



"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 49 

promised me, I was to ride a mule. The 
Chief said that when we came to a lake one 
hundred and fifty miles away, I would get the 
famous horse — not before that — but he was 
a paragon, having all the virtues that could 
be possessed by any horse; in the meantime, 
I was to ride a mule. 

The Chief passed a high eulogium upon 
the mule whose name he said was "Billie" — 
"Billie" with no prefix or subfix whatsoever. 
He forgot to say that among the natives he 
always went by one of two names — "Billie the 
Wild" or "Wild Billie," and he also neg- 
lected to say that he was famous because he 
had thrown more men and wrecked more bug- 
gies and sleighs than any other five horses or 
mules in the Yukon. It was perhaps better 
or more polite that he should keep this infor- 
mation to himself, as the sequel will show. 

While sitting on Billie and waiting for the 
cavalcade to begin the journey, a man came 
to me and advised me to demand of the head 
guide that a start be made for the "Meadows" 
— a camping spot five miles away on our road, 
— where plenty of grass and water were to be 
found, saying that if we didn't make such a 
beginning we might be held back from one 
cause or another for one or more days. So 



50 THE UPPER YUKON 

I insisted upon a start without any further 
delay. 

Then a stout woman came up to me and 
told the story of her experience in White 
Horse. She was a cook — had been six weeks 
in the town. She was "Oh, so lonely," and 
wanted to go back home to St. Paul, Minn. 
She was willing to go in "any old way." 
Wouldn't I take her with me when I came 
back? If I did she would never forget me as 
long as she lived. Couldn't I pack her in my 
big trunk — bore holes in it, so that she would 
get air — then when the trunk was put on the 
steamer and the steamer had started she would 
get out on the deck and nobody would know 
that she hadn't paid her fare? The woman 
had all she could do to keep from crying right 
there in the open street. Of course, I only 
laughed at her — that being the best tonic to 
give her. 

Before leaving my home city, I had ordered 
a pair of riding breeches to be made of the best 
and heaviest moleskin, and I had pictured to 
myself much ease and comfort as well as 
warmth in wearing them. I had very hard 
work to get them on. The tailor's plans had 
evidently "gone aglee," for they were so tight 
that the buttons from the knees down could 




X 



"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 51 

not be buttoned ; worst of all, I could not bend 
my knees in them, therefore I could not mount 
the mule without help. The "help," which 
was tendered me by a man on each side of the 
mule, consisted in actually lifting me into the 
saddle. What an ignoble way this was to in- 
augurate a trip that before it was over might 
cover over a thousand miles in the saddle! 

Having been thus laboriously "chucked" 
into the saddle, the Chief rode up to me and 
said that "no mule could equal Billie for gen- 
tleness, easiness of movement, and fast walk- 
ing or even running." He hesitated a minute 
or so after this laudation, and then said as 
carelessly as he could, as if it was a matter of 
little consequence, "There's one thing, how- 
ever, that you must watch out for — Billie is 
afraid of an Indian, and the scent of a red man 
a mile off will frighten him; to come close 
enough to see one would be still worse." I 
was then cooly advised to keep a sharp lookout 
for the "coming of the red man." 

As I had never before been on a mule's back, 
and was at a distinct disadvantage by reason 
of my tight breeches, which would prevent me 
from getting off in a hurry if such a movement 
would be necessary, I did considerable hard 
thinking while waiting for the caravan to 



52 THE UPPER YUKON 

start. We were delayed about something, but 
what that something was no one I questioned 
was able to tell. In the meantime the 
whole populace of the town seemed to be 
intent upon watching our departure. Some 
men from the railroad across the street saunt- 
ered over, the boarders at the hotel forgot to 
imbibe fiery liquids at half a dollar a drink, 
the clerks and employees in the stores crowded 
the sidewalk. There were also quite a num- 
ber of women spectators. In fact, it looked 
as if all of the population was determined to 
do us the honor of seeing us start upon our 
fateful trip, and I really felt proud over the 
apparent ovation. 

Alas for me, I little knew of "Billie the 
Wild's" reputation. For he was better 
known in White Horse than most of the citi- 
zens, and just think — hadn't the man who was 
to ride him been actually lifted into the sad- 
dle? And what happenings might not be 
seen if but a solitary Indian should now stroll 
up to the caravan? How long would the 
man with the new breeches stay on the mule 
then? I might soon be ingloriously thrown, 
and with Othello I might cry: "Reputation, 
reputation, reputation. Oh, I have lost my 
reputation." 



'TUT FORTH THY HAND" 53 

Of all of this I happily knew nothing, and 
at 4.45 P. M. we at last — at last — started away 
without any circus performance on the part of 
the mule. 

We were to go but five miles and then pitch 
tents for the night. Billie, true to his reputa- 
tion, easily led the procession, as he was a won- 
derful walker. All went well for a couple of 
miles, and the wind, blowing in our faces as 
we rode, made "the green leaves quiver with 
the cooling wind." 

Then Billie commenced to throw his right 
ear back and his left ear front, which actions 
the Chief having observed, he rode up and 
said: "There's sure an Indian ahead of us; 
now keep cool, stick to the mule and don't let 
him throw you." 

How was that for a man riding in tight 
breeches — so tight as to lock his knees? But 
holding the bridle of the fearsome mule with 
my left hand, I patted his neck with my right, 
and talked to him in a "soothing" tone, at the 
same time keeping a sharp watch for the In- 
dian. Sure enough he finally appeared. He 
was only a young Indian, however, a lad of 
eighteen; perhaps had he been a full-grown 
Indian the situation might have been more 
difficult, as the scent might have been 



54 THE UPPER YUKON 

"ranker." However, Billie walked past him. 
Agitated he was undoubtedly, but I flattered 
myself that my afifectionate treatment of him 
had won the day. 

Another mile-stone was reached, and once 
more there was trouble and once more I tried 
the "loving" treatment, but in this case he 
bolted, swung clear around, and started for 
White Horse. Now that was not the direction 
in which I wanted to go. A sharp cut with 
the willow stick and a strong pull at the bridle 
brought him to face the music, whatever it 
might be. Then we discovered that a large 
grizzly bear's fresh tracks crossed our trail, 
and the Chief hastened to apologize for not 
telling me that Billie was also always badly 
frightened when he struck the fresh trail of a 
bear. 

Without further excitement the "Meadows" 
were reached, at 7.30 on the evening of August 
fifteenth. 

In a walk of a mile that night after supper 
six Arctic hares were seen, and from that time 
on until the end of the whole trip we must 
have seen many thousands of these agile but 
rather foolish animals. It is hard to imagine 
how the native Indians and the small white 
population could get along without these 



'TUT FORTH THY HAND" 55 

harmless but necessary animals, as they make 
a good meal at any time of the year, but more 
particularly in the fall when they're fat and 
in prime condition. We shot quite a few of 
them on the journey, together with plenty of 
grouse and ptarmigan, and they made an ac- 
ceptable addition to our food supply. 

When we got to the mountain sheep country 
and tasted for the first time the flesh of a three- 
year-old mountain ram, however, we didn't 
hanker much for rabbit meat. 

On the sixteenth — our first full day's travel 
— we covered twenty-six miles, crossing the 
Takiki River, a deep and swift-running 
stream, by means of a cable. The ferry was 
run by the rapid current carrying a raft at- 
tached to the cable with our outfit loaded on 
it. At this crossing we had our first noonday 
dinner in the open. Later, as we journeyed 
on, Louie Jaquotte regaled me with stories of 
what they did during the cold winters and 
how they lived. He was eloquent in his des- 
cription of the usefulness of the husky dogs 
in the Yukon. He had more or less to do with 
the huskies, and he recited the incidents of one 
journey of three hundred and twenty-three 
miles which he covered with his own dog team 
in nine days. The dogs were fed principally 



56 THE UPPER YUKON 

on frozen fish. On this trip quite a few ptar- 
migan were captured or shot — I forget which 
— and most of the birds were given to the dogs, 
who ate them with great relish. 

A dense cloud came up during this day and 
the temperature dropped 40 degrees, so that 
we had our first frost at night. We passed 
through an Indian village, but all the inhabit- 
ants were away on a salmon fishing excursion. 
At night-fall we reached a good stopping 
place with plenty of grass and water. We 
had made twenty-seven miles for the day. 

The eighteenth was a bright pleasant day 
but very windy. A start was made at 5.15 
A. M. as a hard day's trip was before us. I 
rode Billie most of this forenoon. The pre- 
vious days I had been walking more than rid- 
ing. Now, overhearing the Chief telling Eu- 
gene the cook to be sure to get me to dismount 
before going down a steep incline to an Indian 
village, I "took time by the forelock" and dis- 
mounted before we came to the drop in the 
road. Keeping a sharp lookout, I saw an old 
Indian and his squaw sitting out in the open 
before an outdoor fire of logs. They proved 
to be the chief of the tribe and his wife; all 
the rest of the bucks, squaws, and children had 
gone off on a moose hunt some days previous. 



"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 57 

I led Billie by the chief's cabin without any 
trouble, as the heavy wind was blowing 
directly towards the old Indian, so the mule 
didn't get the scent. Having passed by him a 
couple of hundred yards, our Chief's voice 
was heard above the wind asking me to tether 
Billie, and run back and help him with 
"Beck," a lady mule who was wild with fright. 
The old Indian chief and his wife had in the 
meantime come out to the front of their cabin 
and "Beck" had not only seen, but scented 
them. When I reached the panic-stricken 
mule, we found that we needed even a third 
man's help before we could get her under con- 
trol, and then not until we had asked the 
Indians to go back into their cabin — which 
they graciously did — could we get her by. It 
was surmised that both Billie and Beck had in 
their younger days belonged to Indians, and 
perhaps had been cruelly treated by them; 
hence the scent of an Indian, and particularly 
the sight of one, drove them into a frenzy of 
fear. 

We now saw everywhere along the trail the 
fresh signs of a large grizzly bear which had 
been tearing up gopher holes, to catch, kill, 
and eat these fat and juicy little animals, 
which at this time of the year are at their best. 



^8 THE UPPER YUKON 

The amount of soil and roots that had been 
ripped up by this one bear was remarkably 
large. 

We pitched camp at 6.30 P. M., having 
covered thirty-one miles for the day. 

Next day a drove of horses was encountered 
and the two men in charge lost about ten out 
of the bunch and necessarily had to go back 
after them. 

Another Indian village was reached, but 
not a human being was there. The inhabit- 
ants, like those of the other settlement, were 
off on a moose hunt. Here we found quite a 
number of caches raised on high poles, some 
of them being quite pretentious affairs, and on 
a mountain near by we saw a grave covered 
with a pretty little house, crowned with a 
flag. The occupant of the grave was a young 
Indian girl eight years of age. Laid on 
the mound were some needlework, some beads 
and thread, a piece of flannel, and a strip of 
caribou hide for her to embroider in the 
happy hunting ground. This particular tribe 
of Indians take considerable pride in showing 
respect to their dead. 

On the twentieth we stopped for a short 
visit at the cabin of a man who had a month 
previously bought from an Indian a little 



"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 59 

grizzly bear cub which was then but a day 
old. The Indian had killed the mother, then 
captured the little one, and sold it for a trifle. 
The purchaser built a strong cage for the 
young stranger and had been feeding it upon 
bread and milk only until we arrived. One 
of our men had killed a hare, and with the 
blood dripping from it, some of us thought 
that we might give it to the cub. We did so 
and watched the result with lively interest, 
Although the young grizzly had never seen 
such a thing in his life, yet his instinct in- 
stantly advised him what to do, and the savage 
way in which he tore that hare to pieces, ate 
the flesh, sucked the blood, crunched the bones, 
and even ate the skin was an object lesson to 
us of what a strong and terrible animal a full- 
grown grizzly bear must be. 

The wife of this man (the owner of the bear 
cub) was a white woman from Montreal. She 
seemed to be very lonely so far away from her 
mother and sister, and listened with intense 
interest to all that we had to tell her of the 
doings of the outer world; more particularly 
so because I had at one time been in her home 
city and could tell her something about the 
news from there, and especially of the late 
visit of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, 



6o THE UPPER YUKON 

the new Governor General and his wife. She 
brightened up greatly before our departure, 
and if our visit did nothing else, it gave her 
something to think about after we were gone. 
She told us that the weather had been very 
cold in that locality, and they had only had 
seven ^'decent" days all summer; the balance 
of the time they suffered from high winds, 
much rain, and extreme cold for that time of 
the year. 

Since my arrival home a letter has come 
conveying the sad news of her death, probably 
from homesickness. At the time the letter 
was sent her husband was taking her out on a 
dog-sled, for although she had been ill twenty 
days no medical aid could be sent for. 

On this day we came to the divide or sum- 
mit, and I took much pleasure in walking over 
it, a distance said to be eight and a half miles. 
At the summit we found two considerable mo- 
raines that had come from a great glacier now 
dead and extinct. It was a most interesting 
thing to see how the rocks had been shoved 
and forced along by the impact of these 
slowly moving ice packs in the ages that are 
gone, and what great power these glaciers 
exert when they are in the fulness of their 
strength. Without seeing the effects of their 



^'PUT FORTH TFIY HAND" 6i 

work no one can appreciate it. We after- 
wards found many glaciers on our journey, 
and all of them were dying — slowly dying. 

In the evening we met a bright and intelli- 
■gent young man of whom we had heard much 
before we reached him. He held a govern- 
ment position, and had a deal of time on his 
hands to spare. He was an assiduous maga- 
zine reader, boasting indeed that he took every 
prominent magazine in the United States but 
• one, and that missing one was ''Hearst's Maga- 
zine." He was said by our men to take a 
fiendish delight in picking out the big words 
occasionally found in the magazines, and com- 
miting the same to memory. He used these 
words with keen relish, whether they were 
warranted or not by the conversation, on the 
unfortunate man or men with whom he came 
in contact. As neither his auditors nor he 
himself, perhaps, knew the meaning of many 
of these almost impossible words, some of the 
men asked me if I couldn't "take a rise out of 
him when he got a-goin'." 

After supper we sat down around the camp 
fire and, as he needed no encouragement to 
start talking, he was soon floundering in a 
ludicrous assortment of big words, some of 
them entirely unfitted to the conversation he 



62 THE UPPER YUKON 

was indulging in. He went gaily along for a 
quarter of an hour or so, when he drifted to 
talk on the subject of ornithology and soon be- 
came almost hopelessly involved in some clas- 
sical Latin names. I excused myself for in- 
terrupting him, and asked him what relation 
the incident that he was narrating had to do 
with "the hypothenuse of a rectangular tri- 
angle." 

He stared with wide open mouth, and was 
undoubtedly painfully staggered for a while. 
Then he slowly said that he hadn't given any 
thought to that subject but that he would at 
once "take it under consideration." 

Two of the men were so much overcome 
with this "solar plexus" blow, that they had to 
get up, "go-away-off," and have a laugh loud 
and long, where he could not hear them. 

In spite of this young man's harmless pro- 
pensity for the use of large words he is very 
popular among the men of the community. 
He is kind-hearted and is helpful to every one 
who seeks his aid and advice, and, moreover, 
he is an unusually well-informed and interest- 
ing man. 

Early this morning we saw a great volume 
of dense smoke on the very top of a mountain 
covered with timber, and near the foot of the 




o 



"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 63 

same elevation another "big smoke" was in 
sight. The two fires were said to be signals 
from some Indian hunters to their squaws 
that they had killed a moose; or, to be exact, 
the top fire was to signal them to come — both 
they and the children — as a moose had been 
killed; the lower one was built close to the 
dead animal, so as to lead them directly to the 
carcass. 

When Indian braves have killed an animal, 
they feel that they have done their work, and 
depend upon the squaws to dress and cut up 
the meat, to cure it as well, and then to carry 
it to their cache and there deposit it. We 
were advised that the squaws are very partic- 
ular to empty the stomach of the dead animal 
quickly of its contents. Then, after washing 
it out thoroughly so that it is absolutely clean, 
they catch all of the blood that they can, put 
it into the empty stomach, and thus transport 
it to their camp. Blood puddings are made 
out of it, and many of them drink the blood 
when it is luke warm. 

As the wind was blowing a gale when the 
fires were started, it was not long before they 
spread into a fierce conflagration, which 
swept everything before it. The smoke of 
this sweeping fiery furnace was seen for two 



64 THE UPPER YUKON 

days afterwards, and it burnt over a large sec- 
tion of good and useful timber. 

We met a man who had been a resident 
guide on the Island of Vancouver. To us he 
featured the generally wet condition of the 
w^oods there, the slimy bark on the fallen 
trees and the torrential rains that afflict 
that interesting island. He was guiding a 
timber prospector through the dense woods 
when they came to a deep canyon over which 
a log had fallen. The prospector was a stout 
man and one who liked to have his own way. 
The guide went down to the bed of the creek, 
and advised the prospector to do the same, for 
it was a dangerous proceeding to walk over a 
wet log, as his foot was liable to slip. How- 
ever, the man persisted. His foot did slip, 
and so did the man, and the fall broke three of 
his ribs. He was picked up and helped away 
to the city of Vancouver as fast as they could 
go. 

There he found a letter of considerable im- 
portance which caused him at once to board a 
train for New York, without waiting to have 
any surgical attention paid to his injuries. 
When he reached New York he had to be 
taken to a hospital, where he died in two days. 
Being asked what it was that killed the man, 



"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 65 

the guide said he had "heard tell that his ribs 
had gone bad on him." This much and noth- 
ing more he said, and yet it was a sufficient 
and good reason for the untimely fatality. 

At night, Tuesday, the twenty-first, we ar- 
rived in the dark at the head of a large lake. 
Here we were lodged in a cabin belonging to 
the Chief. The floor and walls were covered 
with skins of animals, — caribou, moose, wol- 
verine, and fox skins. 

Here our horses were to go around the lake 
on a trail which wound up and down several 
steep mountains, while we were to cross the 
water by a power boat. Louie, with another 
man, was dispatched to take the horses and 
mules across a dangerous river where quick- 
sands abounded, and where the utmost care 
had to be taken not to let either horse or man 
get into such a critical locality. The horses 
had to swim across the stream which was fed 
by a great glacier — the water, therefore, being 
ice-cold. They were led by two men in 
a row boat. In some way Louie got into the 
quicksands and it was some time — even with 
the help of his companion — before he could 
extricate himself, having sunk down in the 
quicksand up to his waist. 

A fine day was frittered away at the head of 



66 THE UPPER YUKON 

the lake without doing anything in particular. 
From some unknown reason the Chief did not 
seem to care about getting into the power boat 
to cross the forty miles to the foot of the 
lake. 

The following morning the wind was blow- 
ing a gale, and we loafed around until the late 
afternoon, when, the wind having subsided, 
we boarded the boat and were off at last. 

When a couple of miles had been passed, 
another storm arose, blowing at right angles 
to the boat, and we were forced to steer for the 
shelter of the lee-shore, where we put in an 
hour waiting for the subsidence of the wind. 
It was by this time nearly dark and it looked 
like rain. Some sail cloth was procured and 
battened down over our heads and on each side 
of the boat, so that we were sheltered from a 
wetting. 

The threatened storm came quickly in the 
form of a squall, which blew the hissing water 
over the top of the canvas. The boat com- 
menced to take water and as there were seven 
of us in it, with a considerable weight of sup- 
plies and dunnage besides, for a while it 
looked dubious as to whether we could get 
across. To make things worse, after a run of 
four hours we ran head on upon a gravel bar, 



"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 67 

and it was a wonder that the boat did not break 
amidship, from the force of the impact against 
the sharp stones. But at last, when "the iron 
tongue of midnight had toiled twelve," we 
rounded a point, and ran alongside of a little 
wharf. We mentally thanked God we were 
safe, and near a cabin, in spite of wind, rain, 
and a gravelly bottom. 

The sun rose bright and warm the next 
morning, which was the twenty-fourth of Au- 
gust. We put in some time fishing with the 
fly for graylings in a swift and rocky-bottomed 
river. I had read much about the good qual- 
ities of this far-famed fish, but my anticipa- 
tion of some splendid sport in catching a mess, 
of them was rudely dispelled when one of 
them jumped at the fly and swallowed it, and 
then calmly gave up the fight, actually swim- 
ming towards the shore so as not to give me 
any trouble in hauling him out of the water. 
"The pleasantest angling is to see the fish cut 
with her golden oars the silver stream," but 
the stream was not silver, and the fish didn't 
do any "cutting"; so I gave up in disgust. 

The afternoon was spent in sitting with a 
twenty-two calibre rifle on the edge of a pond 
waiting for some wild ducks to drop in, but 
none "dropped." A member of the Ashiack 



68 THE UPPER YUKON 

tribe of Indians, who went by the name of 
*'01d Joe," went with me. A lean, thin In- 
dian he was, who in some way managed to get 
a square meal every other day, and by force of 
circumstances had to fast the balance of the 
time. He had helped a young Indian to kill 
four large bull moose having a respective 
spread of antlers of sixty, sixty-two, sixty-three 
and sixty-four inches, apparently in the belief 
that we would purchase the heads, even though 
the animals were killed out of season. 

We soon disabused them of their dream of 
sudden riches. Then Old Joe brought to us 
a hind quarter of moose meat which he tried 
to sell us. But we much preferred bacon and 
eggs to the rump of a bull moose, so there was 
"nothing doing" in the way of moose trade. 

We invited Joe to take supper with us, and 
we had rare enjoyment in watching him stow 
away food. When he had eaten all that his 
stomach could apparently hold, he lay down 
on the ground without a blanket or fire, and 
fell asleep. The next morning he and the 
hind quarter of moose were gone, and we saw 
him no more. 



CHAPTER IV 

A LOST MOOSE 

"Night's candles were burnt out, and jocund day 
Stood tiptoe on the misty mountain's top," 

WE had now journeyed nearly two hun- 
dred miles through a comparatively 
gameless country. From now on, however, 
until we reached a permanent camp where we 
were to stay at least two weeks, we would be 
liable to strike big game any day, so said the 
Chief. 

I have always taken a keen interest in bird 
life, and hence was on the lookout to note the 
different species of birds as our journey pro- 
gressed day after day. I must confess that I 
was disappointed with the meager number 
(outside of the birds of prey) that we passed 
in this long stretch of territory. 

The grouse family, however, was well rep- 
resented, for we saw many spruce grouse, pin- 
tail prairie chickens, willow ptarmigan, rock 
ptarmigan, and ruffed grouse. We saw 



70 THE UPPER YUKON 

plenty of surf scoter ducks, mallards, pintails, 
and butter balls. 

Of birds of prey there were a great plenty 
and variety, including the golden eagle, 
horned owl, sharp shinned hawk, pigeon 
hawk, goshawk, and raven. 

Of small birds, the Alaska jay, belted king- 
fisher, chickadee, water ouzel, water thrush, 
spotted sand-piper, and one solitary Wilson 
snipe were seen. 

Of fur-coated animals I, personally, saw 
three silver foxes, one black fox (a real beauty 
he was), two red foxes (both full grown and 
well furred), some weasels and red squirrels, 
myriads of gophers, and six grizzly bears. 

We had expected to see a great many whis- 
tling marmots, but they had all holed up and 
not one was seen. This was quite a disap- 
pointment, as I had set my heart on bringing 
out enough of these skins to make a coat. 

We saw a lot of porcupines — some very 
large ones indeed. Of ovis-stonei— the white 
mountain sheep — a goodly number were seen, 
but not as many as we had expected. The 
same may be said of caribou, moose, and 
mountain goat. We saw but one of the latter 
— a large male goat — which I stalked by 
making a laboriously high and difficult climb, 



A LOST MOOSE 7i 

and tried to get by firing from a very awk- 
ward position, partly lying on my left side. I 
missed him by a foot, and he was gone in- 
stantly. The native Indians and some of the 
white residents kill a large number of sheep 
and cache them for winter food. 

At the foot of the lake the pack horses were 
assembled and loaded with our dunnage, am- 
munition, spare rifles, and some supplies. 
Here I first met Charley, the horse I was to 
ride, while Billie was sent off loaded with a 
pack like any common mule. The caravan 
got away in good time in the early afternoon. 
After covering five miles of travel we forded 
a river, and on the farther side an almost per- 
pendicular ridge loomed up before us. It 
was a novel sight to see the mules and horses 
zig-zag their tortuous way up this stiff piece 
of trail. With the exception of one pack 
which turned, all went well, and when the 
sun was about to set we pitched camp upon a 
high elevation, ate our supper, and soon went 
to sleep. 

The half day's ride on Charley, the horse, 
was a continual torture. Changing the sad- 
dle was tried, and the stirrups were adjusted 
over and over again, but all to no use. The 
following day the situation did not improve 



72 THE UPPER YUKON 

one iota and the next day I gave it up entirely 
and made the Chief change things around and 
give me Billie again. I was indeed glad to 
mount Billie once more, as he was as easy to 
ride as a rocking-chair, and he was the quick- 
est walker and the best runner of the whole 
bunch of animals. There was no doubt that 
Charley was a fine horse, but he had been eat- 
ing too plentifully of grass all summer and his 
body was as round as a barrel. 

The fourth day after leaving the lake we 
were given a chance to see some big game. 
On one of the high mountains a bunch of four 
sheep was seen and their immaculately clean, 
white coats looked handsome and unique 
against the dark background of some jack 
pines near a patch of green grass which they 
were feeding upon. But instead of being 
rams with big horns, as they appeared to us 
when first seen, they were only ewes. 

The Chief led us across a river, then up 
stream for four miles, and we plunged into a 
rather thick forest of spruce and jack pines. 
A slightly marked trail led us up through the 
timber belt at a sharp pitch. Arrived at the 
summit, we came to a large grassy basin slop- 
ing down a bit on all sides so that in the center 
we found the bed of a dried-up pond. Here 




Husky Dogs on the March 



A LOST MOOSE 73 

was plenty of grass for the horses. They were 
picketed and a lunch was prepared, a small 
fire having been kindled for boiling the mate 
(the South American herb that we were using 
instead of tea). In due time we sat down to 
a refreshing lunch. The men who smoked lit 
their pipes and were just settling themselves 
for a little rest, when some one exclaimed: 
"Look, oh look, did you ever see such a 
sight?" Away up on top of the mountain that 
we had ascended but a little while before, was 
the biggest bull moose that I had ever seen 
He was running as fast as he could go, and in 
a minute or so had reached the divide and 
dropped down out of sight on the other side. 
There was some quick mounting of steeds and 
off we went at full gallop after the moose. 
He was too quick for us; when we scaled the 
summit he was not to be seen, but his tracks 
were very plain and showed that he had been 
calmly feeding alone on some lily pads grow- 
ing in a tiny bit of a lake, located in another 
little depression like the dried-up pond near 
which we had lunched. He had scented us, 
although from where he had rushed out of the 
water the distance was a good mile from us, 
and the wind was not directly in his favor 
either, but it must have made a sort of angle as 



74 THE UPPER YUKON 

it swept around the basin of the lake. We 
followed his well-defined trail for some dis- 
tance, but failed to get in sight of him 
again. 

We now came in view of a fine caribou bull. 
He was on a divide opposite us and standing 
half-way up on. the mountain. He was paw- 
ing the earth with his fore feet and throwing 
the soil over his back. He was all alone, and 
seemed to be fascinated with looking at our 
horses. Above him a considerable distance 
two ewe sheep fed complacently. They, too, 
kept looking at our horses with interest, and 
seemed not to mind us. The wind being in 
our favor they leisurely took their own time in 
moving around the mountain's side and thus 
getting out of range. 

It was all in all a really delightful introduc- 
tion to certain species of animals that we ex- 
pected to hunt a few days later, as it was still 
close time — the open season starting Septem- 
ber first. 

We had some lively scrapes descending the 
mountain from the front face rather than from 
the back. We arrived at camp at lo P. M., 
well pleased, indeed, with our first experience 
in seeing sheep, caribou, and bull moose in the 
Upper Yukon. 



A LOST MOOSE 75 

An early start the following morning took 
us up the stony bed of a tortuous creek. We 
saw a few fresh grizzly bear tracks made by a 
mother and two cubs. The mother had been 
digging in gopher holes and evidently with 
success, as a little blood here and there near 
the mounds she had piled up showed that she 
had sent her teeth through more than one 
gopher. The wind being in our favor, a keen 
watch was kept upon her trail, yet we saw 
nothing of her. 

In the afternoon we passed through a can- 
yon. In the ages that are gone the present 
stream flowed through a channel, the marks 
of which were plainly in sight on the rocky 
face seventy-two feet higher than the one in 
use at present. One day the pressure of water 
from melting snow and ice became so irre- 
sistibly great that a large section of solid rock 
was swTpt away, and the broken rocks were 
carried or shoved along in the lap of the flood 
and deposited miles below. But the dam was 
broken, and now the stream tears through a 
channel that once was a rocky barrier seventy- 
two feet in height. We camped at the lower 
end of the canyon for the night. 

The next day was ushered in with a fierce 
snow storm which came in intermittent gusts 



76 THE UPPER YUKON 

of strong wind that increased in velocity as 
the day wore on. 

Our tent was fairly well sheltered from the 
worst of the storm by the friendly willow 
brush, but it was irksome to be kept a prisoner 
in the tent. The storm performed all kinds of 
vagaries. In the early morning it brought 
soft snow, with large flakes; towards noon the 
wind increased in vigor and the flakes dis- 
appeared, giving way to hail, which fairly 
screamed as it rushed by us. At about one 
o'clock it had calmed down enough to war- 
rant a suggestion to the Chief of making a 
climb up the face of the mountain directly in 
front of our camp. He shook his head, and 
said the storm was not over by any means, and 
if we got up on top and it should start to blow 
again in hurricane fashion when we were up 
there, we might be blown off. He was cau- 
tious enough to want to wait until all danger 
was past. 

It should be remembered that this was the 
last day of August and it seemed peculiar to 
us that such a wild storm should visit us this 
early in the season. 

In the high Sierras of California snow 
usually does not fall until about the end of 
October or early in November, and then it 



A LOST MOOSE 77 

comes down gently and soon melts, but this, 
our first storm, started with a dense darkness 
which gave way to bright sunshine only to 
have darkness again; storm succeeded storm, 
until all the mountains and valleys were 
covered with the white mantle. 

From hail, it now came towards us in the 
form of dry snow-dust, filling all nooks and 
crannies, from which the wind would pres- 
ently suck it out and carry it up to the sky line 
like floating banners. Following this diver- 
sion it commenced to form bossy drifts that 
were heaped up in fanciful pyramids, making 
a most beautiful panorama as the light snow- 
dust circled about the tops of the drifts like an 
aerial whirlpool. The sight was really grand 
in every way, and the more I watched it the 
more anxious I was to climb the mountain and 
be really in the storm. Two o'clock had come 
and with it a slight cessation of the wind. 
The Chief now yielded to my request, and we 
struck out bodily across the dashing stream, 
soon reaching the foot of the mountain, and 
the climb was commenced by making a trail 
in the snow zig-zaging backwards and for- 
wards. 

We pushed up as fast as we could go, stop- 
ping now and then to breathe. The higher 



78 THE UPPER YUKON 

we went the grander the storm appeared. To 
me it was a gala day of furious wind and 
snow, for being on the sheltered side of the 
mountain we were safe from the worst out- 
burst of its wrath. The valley which we had 
left below now seemed to vibrate with weird 
musical sounds as the wind played on the gi- 
gantic rocks and whistled through the narrow 
gap in which the stream was rushing like a 
torrent. Up and up we went; fortunately the 
days were long, and the mantle of night was 
not due until ten of the clock. When near the 
top, one of the frequent lulls in the storm 
came, and "casting caution to the winds" we 
climbed to the very peak, for, "as we often see, 
against some storm a silence in the heavens," 
the temptation to be at the top was too great 
to withstand. 

A few minutes only were granted to us for 
observation, as we plainly saw the elements 
gathering for another attack and we hastily 
descended far enough to reach the shelter of a 
large boulder that had a natural cavity in its 
face, and into this blessed haven of safety we 
squeezed ourselves. 

Now we were safe, well sheltered, and just 
high enough to see the snow tearing by us, 
whistling, screaming, and at times roaring, as 



A LOST MOOSE 79 

it swept past driven by the fury of the gale. 
We only saw the storm, it was not felt. What 
few trees were in sight bent themselves in 
lowly manner nearly to the ground, but many, 
unable to withstand the storm pressure, 
snapped and fell to earth like broken reeds. 

Where were the birds and the wild animals 
in all of this confusion of sound and whirl of 
snow? They had "taken time by the fore- 
lock" and were safely housed behind friendly 
shelters. Although we spent a full hour in 
our niche in the rock, not a living thing was 
to be seen. Oh, what an hour that was! In- 
deed, it was one that I shall never forget. It 
was with deep regret that I followed the Chief 
down to the bottom of the canyon once more, 
but the night was becoming most unnaturally 
dark and very cold, and "discretion being the 
better part of valor" we walked and slid, ran 
and jumped from drift to drift, until our tent 
was reached. Thus ended our experience 
with the great snow storm of the Yukon. 

During the following night, the storm 
abated and a warm wind sprang up. In the 
morning the snow commenced to melt in the 
valleys and melted faster than one could 
imagine. 

September first had arrived. Now we 



8o THE UPPER YUKON 

were at liberty to hunt and kill the mountain 
sheep, and to secure specimens of these most 
interesting animals, all of course within the re- 
striction of the game laws. 

To a hunter entering a new and strange 
country on which his imagination has been 
centered for several months — perhaps years, 
the first day of the open season is one of prime 
interest. Will his dreams be realized? Will 
his hopes be fulfilled? Will the stories told 
him by guides and hunters prove true? Will 
success be his portion? Now the planning of 
months, the travel of thousands of miles, and 
the bringing into the wilderness of an elabo- 
rate equipment necessitating the use of a large 
drove of pack horses, is to be finally tested. 

In the early morning the Chief led the way 
through the canyon to a small stream running 
into the river from the right. This stream 
was nearly choked by great rocks of different 
shapes and sizes showing volcanic origin. 

Around these Charley and Billie carefully 
felt their way. The stream drained a consid- 
erable area of bench land or foot hills. We 
worked our way through this to the foot of the 
mountains themselves, and followed a caribou 
trail that turned sharp corners and twisted in 
and around cliffs, with here and there a spot 



A LOST MOOSE 8i 

where green grass was growing deep. By 
eleven o'clock we emerged on the top of a 
divide. 

So far, no game worthy of mention had been 
seen, yet there was an abundance of sheep and 
caribou tracks on the route with an occasional 
grizzly bear trail to lend additional interest. 
While the horses were feeding on the few tufts 
of "grass to be found on the summit, the Chief 
and I were scanning the horizon with glasses. 
For a time no moving creature was to be seen, 
and things looked dubious for our first day's 
hunt. 

Then a young ram appeared, coming over 
the edge of an opposite divide. He was fol- 
lowed by four more young rams, and lastly 
came an old ram with such big horns that he 
was a giant in contrast with the other five. 
The Chief at once became somewhat excited 
as he viewed "his majesty" through the 
glass. 

"Do you feel like stalking that old fellow? 
If we tackle him we'll have to go down to the 
canyon below, and climb up over the other 
summit, and it will take us three hours and a 
half at least, as it will be a hard climb." 

"Chief, wherever you lead, I'll follow," I 
replied; "this I mean in every sense of the 



82 THE UPPER YUKON 

word, not only now but until we have finished 
our hunt." 

'Then we go," he said, and leading the 
horse and Billie we commenced the descent to 
the canyon. Over a portion of the way it was 
so very steep that our animals had to nearly 
slide down. 

After crossing the canyon our course, by 
reason of the wind, was to the left; we were 
to climb the mountain on which the rams were 
feeding by going around it and up by the 
"back door" to a level plateau on top. The 
going up was not very bad, until we had 
climbed say two thousand to twenty-five hun- 
dred feet, and all of this distance was done in 
the saddle. Here the side of the mountain 
was very precipitous, with a sheer uninter- 
rupted slope down to the bottom. This slope 
was mostly of soft earth, with here and there 
a flat stone clinging to its face. We came to 
a place where there was a long overhanging 
shelf of rock, and directly under this the Chief 
rode Charley carefully, on the very edge of 
the steep decline. I took good care not to 
look down the slope, but to keep my eyes 
focused on the tops of Billie's long ears. All 
went well until a sharp turn was made to the 
right. A step before this turn was taken, we 



A LOST MOOSE 83 

saw a large flat rock with a round bottom hav- 
ing a weight of perhaps fifty pounds. Char- 
ley placed his left fore-foot carefully on this 
rock before putting his whole weight upon it. 
It held firm; he made just one step more, 
turned the corner, and was lost to my sight. 
When Billie reached the rock he also placed 
his left front foot on it. At the first impact 
of' the foot it held, but when Billie's whole 
weight was placed upon it, it slipped from 
under him. 

A mule in such a situation as this is as quick 
as the proverbial lightning, and Billie did the 
only thing that he could do — he lifted his foot 
like a flash from the sliding rock, jabbing it 
down into the round hole which the rock had 
left exposed. This naturally threw the mule 
to the left with a sharp, sudden jerk, but fortu- 
nately I had my right knee tightly pressed 
against his side. For a second I thought Bil- 
lie and I would surely go over the precipice 
(and if so, I should never have lived to tell 
this tale), but he held his ground firmly, and 
the next step we also turned the corner, Billie 
appearing as calm and as placid as if by his 
adroitness he had not just saved himself and 
his rider. My heart was very thankful to 
him, and I leaned over and patted him on the 



84 THE UPPER YUKON 

neck and told him what I thought of him. 

To the Chief I said never a word of our 
narrow escape. This was the first day, mind 
you, and it would have looked bad to start it 
with the tale of a hair-breadth escape before 
even a shot had been fired. 

The plateau having been reached, we rode 
slowly towards the edge of the mountain. 
Our cook, for certain reasons of his own, had 
brought with him a husky dog that was three 
parts wolf. This animal, unknown to us, had 
followed along, like his forebears circling 
from side to side of the trail, seldom, if ever, 
traveling in a straight line, and often, when 
reaching a place where deep grass grew, 
crawling on his belly. He had no business 
with us, and his near presence and scent made 
Billie nervous. For a while we could not ac- 
count for the mule's actions. We stopped to 
look around, thinking that an Indian might be 
approaching or that a grizzly bear was in the 
vicinity. When the skulking dog was dis- 
covered, he was crawling through the grass 
and Billie promptly went up on his hind feet. 
The Chief at once dismounted, picked up 
some stones, and pelted the dog so that he 
turned and ran away. 

The horse and mule now were tethered, and 



A LOST MOOSE 85 

we commenced to pick our way to the face of 
the mountain to look for the rams. When 
near the edge a commotion was heard in our 
rear. On looking back Billie was discovered 
with his rope twisted and trying to jump over 
Charley. The wolf-dog had returned and 
was the active cause of this commotion. The 
Chief resorted to firing stones at him once 
more. One of them hit him, and away he 
went howling and barking as if he was injured 
for life. This unusual uproar would cer- 
tainly startle the rams, and I therefore ran as 
fast as I could to the edge of the precipice 
and, lying down flat, looked over. I saw the 
six rams running here and there in wild alarm, 
caused by the howling of the wolf-dog. The 
big ram happened to be the farthest away, and 
although I was badly blown by the fast run- 
ning, I opened fire at once without waiting to 
get calmed down. The first shot was a clean 
miss, but it changed the ram's course and he 
now ran towards me. The second bullet hit 
him back of the shoulder, but he turned again 
to run straight down the mountain. The third 
bullet was another clean miss; the fourth hit 
him in the paunch, and once again turned 
him. The fifth was also a miss. Now he was 
running down hill at a fairly good pace, but 



86 THE UPPER YUKON 

tottering from side to side. The sixth and 
last bullet was a fatal shot. As he ran 
straight away from me the bullet hit him 
astern and he went head over heels, rolling 
down the mountain until he was caught in a 
*'draw." 

I could not help shouting out in my excite- 
ment over killing the first big ram I had ever 
seen, and that too on the first day of the open 
season. While the shooting had necessarily 
been wild, yet under the peculiarly unfavor- 
able circumstances, I could not but feel that 
my success was an omen of good luck for the 
future. The Chief was profuse in his praise 
of my coolness in the shooting, and said that 
either of the first two hits would have proved 
fatal in a few minutes, even if the last one 
had not bowled him over. We reached camp 
that night long after the others had gone to 
rest, yet there was but little sleep for me be- 
cause the remarkable incidents of the hunt and 
the attendant excitements had to be gone over 
again and again in my mind's eyes. 



CHAPTER V 

AN EXCITING CARIBOU HUNT 
"Uninhabitable and almost inaccessible is the land." 

THE section of the country in which we 
were hunting is the home of the Os- 
borni caribou, a species distinct from the 
Woodland and the Barrenland caribou, and 
we were anxious to secure our quota of these 
noted animals. The bull caribou, when we 
first saw them, were hiding by themselves 
away from the cows and calves, and were 
always found in secluded places. I have 
already mentioned seeing one fine bull all 
alone before the open season had arrived. 

For several days after September first, we 
frequently saw the cows and calves feeding 
by themselves, but the bulls were not to be 
seen at all. There came a day, however, 
when we found four large bulls herded to- 
gether on a divide opposite one that we had 
been exploring. They were seen in the deep 
snow on the top of the mountain and seemed 
to be interested in watching our mounts. A 



88 THE UPPER YUKON 

careful descent was made and, the wind being 
right when the canyon was crossed, we left 
Charley and Billie tethered in a spot covered 
with rich grass, and commenced the climb on 
foot, going up on the right side of the moun- 
tain, as it looked the easiest to climb. The 
going was fairly good until the deep snow was 
reached, and then we slipped and stumbled 
— sometimes sliding down more than we 
climbed. We did not expose ourselves to 
the quarry when the top was nearly won, but 
by going around and behind a ledge of rocks 
we managed to rise above where we had ex- 
pected to find the animals. However, they 
had fled. Their tracks in the snow showed 
that we should find them down on the other 
side of the divide. Cautiously dodging be- 
hind rocks as we followed the trail, we finally 
located them near the top of still another 
divide, out of range of a Mannlicher rifle. If 
they should succeed in crossing the second 
range, we would lose them altogether, as the 
conformation of the ground would, if we fol- 
lowed them, bring them in line with our scent. 
I told the Chief that the only chance to bring 
them to a halt and probably to start them 
back down the elevation rather than over it, 
was to fire a few shots. This I did. The 



AN EXCITING CARIBOU HUNT 89 

sound of the exploding bullets reverberated 
among the mountains and completely puzzled 
the bulls, as they stopped and looked in all 
directions. Then they commenced to retrace 
their steps, coming directly towards us and 
keeping a sharp lookout all the while. Un- 
doubtedly they were suspicious, and not quite 
sure that the enemy was behind them, as the 
reverberations had seemed to indicate. They 
walked down a few hundred yards slowly 
and carefully, stopping frequently to watch 
and to listen. A patch of green grass was 
reached. They began to nibble this luscious 
and tender salad. In this occupation they 
seemed to forget their fright and the sound 
of the shots, and set to feeding in real earnest. 
Up to this time we had been hiding behind 
a rock quite a bit to the right of their line 
of probable descent. Taking advantage of 
their enjoyment of the noon-day feed (it was 
now after one o'clock) we worked to the left, 
dodging from rock to rock, until we came to 
the back of a round butte. This we carefully 
climbed from the rear. When we were able 
to peer over the top of the butte, the caribou 
bulls were not in sight. We felt nonplussed 
at this, and could not understand how we had 
lost them. With the glasses the snow was 



go THE UPPER YUKON 

industriously scanned, and what do you think 
we discovered had happened? They had 
come directly down the decline, so that they 
must be almost under us at the base of the 
butte. Crawling to the very top of the pin- 
nacle and then dragging myself on the snow 
to the far edge, I saw them lying down almost 
directly beneath us. They had cleared the 
snow away with their feet, and were resting 
and taking things easy. 

The Chief having also climbed up, we de- 
cided which were the best two in the bunch 
and I got ready to shoot. Two were lying on 
their sides with their backs to us, and they 
were the ones I wanted ; the remaining two 
were facing the butte. It was an awkward 
shot to make, as it was almost a straight drop 
of eight hundred to nine hundred feet to the 
foot of the butte. Aiming carefully, I fired 
at my first choice. He was up and off in a 
jiffy, running around the right side of the 
butte and so past us. The three remaining 
animals also sprang up, and were off, too, but 
I bowled over the second one with the next 
shot. I then turned to look for the first one 
and a trail of blood was seen on the white 
snow spattered about on both sides of his 
tracks, showing where he had run up the in- 



AN EXCITING CARIBOU HUNT 91 

cline. A hundred yards or so up the hill he 
was seen lying dead. 

Having taken my eyes off the second one, 
who had fallen, to follow the route of the 
first one around the right of the butte, I now 
turned back to the second. To my amaze- 
ment he was nowhere to be seen ; then he sud- 
denly appeared almost at our feet, rapidly 
climbing the butte. This was a complete sur- 
prise, as I had counted him as being dead. 
His bolt was of short duration, however, for 
when he got so close to us that we could al- 
most touch him with the rifle, he slipped and 
fell, rolling over and over until he landed 
at the bottom — dead for sure. This feat 
of his showed with what strong muscular ac- 
tion these animals are gifted. The bullet had 
passed through the heart and its force had 
knocked him over, yet he had risen and made 
a rush up the face of the butte where the snow 
was at least a foot deep. 

In 1906, I made a shot at a fine buck deer 
on my own grounds in the Maine woods. 
The buck was standing broadside on, two 
hundred and thirty paces away, and close to 
a dead-fall of trees five feet high. When the 
bullet struck he cleared the dead-fall as easily 
as an expert jumper would get over a four-foot 



92 THE UPPER YUKON 

fence, and with one bound, started down the 
road, and then swung to the left up a ridge. I 
found him there, dead, and on opening him it 
was seen that the bullet had passed directly 
through the heart, tearing it all to pieces; yet 
he had cleared the dead-fall, and run one hun- 
dred and seventeen yards to where he was 
found. 

So, after all, the two shots at the two cari- 
bou had been well placed. Both bulls were 
very fat. They were carrying a deep layer 
of suet on their shoulders, as well as a con- 
siderable quantity on their intestines. I 
have been told that, during the mating sea- 
son, the bulls do not eat a morsel of food, but 
live on this generous accumulation of fat 
which nature stores up for them. In other 
words, they live upon their own tissues dur- 
ing that time, which is divided in two equal 
periods ; nine days of solicitation and nine days 
of participation. 

It may be readily surmised that before we 
had gotten the bulls skinned, dressed, and 
fixed up where we could come for or send 
after them the following day, the daylight 
was nearly over. We hurried through the 
snow, over the divide, and down the other 
side into the canyon, where we found Char- 



AN EXCITING CARIBOU HUNT 93 

ley and Billie standing waiting patiently for 
us. Billie by this time had come to know my 
voice, and when I spoke to him and patted 
him on the neck, he showed that he was well 
pleased to see me. I had already made it a 
point always to have some little tid-bit in 
the saddle bag to give him on my return 
from an excursion away from him. In the 
mornings before starting I would get from 
the cook a few pancakes, or a mutton chop, 
or a few stale buns. He would eat anything 
but raw meat, and it was interesting to see 
how he enjoyed the mutton chops, crushing 
the bones with his teeth as easily as if they 
were sticks of candy. In the end this sort 
of treatment made Billie and me great friends, 
and he was so intelligent that he almost 
seemed to sense what he ought to do, and then 
act without being told. 



CHAPTER VI 
URSUS IIORRIBILIS 

"Oh well I mind, Oh well I mind, 
Tho' now my locks are snow 
How oft Langsyne I sought to find 
What made the bellows blow! 
How cuddling on my Grannie's knee, 
I questioned night and day. 
And still the thing that puzzled me 
Was where the wind came frae." 

— Burns. 

TAKING two men and two extra horses 
with us to bring in the carcases of the 
two bull caribou which I had shot, we were 
off early in the morning of the eighth of Sep- 
tember. We had gone a distance of five miles 
along the river bottom and had passed the 
mouth of a large tributary that enters into 
the river at right angles to it, when the Chief 
with his keen eyesight saw a dark object near 
the center of a high mountain on the right- 
hand bank of the tributary. 

For a few minutes the object did not move, 
but when it did it was easily seen to be a sil- 



URSUS HORRIBILIS 95 

ver-tipped grizzly bear busily engaged in 
digging out gophers. The wind was in our 
favor and the distance to be traveled before 
getting within range would be perhaps four 
miles. The Chief gave instructions to the 
men as to where the two caribou killed the 
day before would be found, and the route to 
reach them; then we parted company, the 
Chief and I riding away to try our luck at 
getting a shot at the grizzly. 

It was necessary to climb from the river 
bed to a plateau where much willow brush 
was growing and, behind this friendly screen 
of brush, to follow a line parallel with the 
stream for a good three miles. Then we 
crossed the water and, after proceeding cau- 
tiously along the base of the mountain on 
which the bear was working, we tethered the 
horse and mule and commenced the stalk. It 
was half an hour before we came in sight of 
Bruin, and he was still busily engaged in dig- 
ging out gophers. The wind at this time was 
blowing with considerable force directly to- 
wards us with the much-coveted quarry nearly 
a mile away. 

We now found it necessary, in order not 
to be seen, to keep in line with the rocks and 
the occasional bunches of willow brush, dodg- 



96 THE UPPER YUKON 

ing from one bit of cover to another. It was 
interesting when stopping for breath in the 
hard stiff ascent to watch the bear at work. 
When he commenced digging at a new 
gopher hole, he would work away leisurely 
for a few minutes, presumably until he heard 
his prey either running or uttering its pecu- 
liar little bark. Then the big animal would 
get into a fever of excitement, tearing away 
the soil, stones, and roots as if he had a per- 
sonal animosity for these inanimate things 
that kept him away from his luscious break- 
fast. Where no rocks or roots interfered 
with his digging, he would throw the soil 
up quickly, very soon making quite a hum- 
mock of earth. We were too far away to 
hear the agonized bark or yelp of the fated 
gopher when he was finally caught, but once 
we imagined that we saw the bear crunch his 
prey with his powerful jaws and swallow the 
gopher almost instantly. 

By one of those peculiar vagaries which 
frequently occur in this section of God's 
earth, the wind suddenly changed. As soon 
as we realized this we literally "threw dis- 
cretion to the winds" and made a dash to get 
within fair shooting range. 

Alas for us! Bruin had already gotten our 



URSUS HORRIBILIS 97 

scent, and without looking around to see us, 
or hesitating a second, he was ofif as fast as 
his enormous strength could carry him. He 
was much too far for a shot, and nothing could 
be done but to watch his swiftly disappearing 
form. 

There was a deep "draw" on the left-hand 
side of the mountain yet farther on. His 
first break was for this draw, and once in this 
shelter he lost no time in getting to the top 
of the divide. He then showed himself but 
for a second, running to the left along the 
peak; then he disappeared down the other 
side and we lost him for good. If the wind 
had but held steady for fifteen minutes more, 
I most certainly would have had a shot, but, 
alas! it didn't and that was all there was to it. 

Remembering that disappointments come 
in other pursuits besides hunting, we made 
the best of a bad thing by crossing the draw 
and following up the other mountain. We 
worked around a large, rocky protuberance 
that made us wonder how it had ever gotten 
there, and how it stayed without sliding down 
to the stream below. Here we saw three 
rams in a picturesque position near the apex 
of the mountain. Their horns seemed at first 
to be of a uniform size, and as they stood 



98 THE UPPER YUKON 

abreast looking down upon us with the curi- 
osity natural to them, they presented a most 
beautiful sight. A hundred paces above the 
large rock around which we came was yet 
another rock, and crawling to this on hands 
and knees we were out of their line of vision. 
In due time we peered over the edge of this 
friendly protection, and the rams, standing 
like statues, watched us. The ram to the left 
looked to be the best. The one in the center 
the next best, and the one to the right the 
poorest; yet they were all fine rams. The 
center one was standing on a boulder, while 
behind him was yet another boulder that tow- 
ered above his head, so that he looked as if 
he was standing upon a huge stone settee. 
The distance between us was too great to 
guarantee a successful shot, 3^et knowing that 
our quarry would bolt the moment we left 
our shelter, I decided to try to hit the one on 
the left. With the sight on the rifle raised 
to three hundred yards, I took a long and 
careful aim at this ram, resting the rifle on the 
rock while I lay down behind it. The shot 
was a clean miss, although it must have al- 
most grazed him, as after the shot he was 
quickly off for good. 

The next shot was made at the one stand- 



^] 'W 




URSUS HORRIBILIS 99 

ing on the rock, which was broadside on. 
We distinctly saw the bullet strike the rock 
behind him, making a flying shower of dust 
and sand. The Chief said: "You are over- 
shooting; you hit the rock behind and above 
him." I then fired the third shot at the ram 
on the right, but again missed, and he disap- 
peared over the top of the peak. 

But to my intense surprise the center ram 
had not bolted at all. He now sprang or 
tumbled ofif the rock, and commenced to roll 
down the steep mountain side, soon lodg- 
ing in the draw. When we came out from 
our rocky shelter and commenced to go up 
after the dead ram, we realized what a long 
and steep climb was before us. The Chief 
went ahead zigzagging, driving his big hob- 
nailed shoes into the sliding soil. Follow- 
ing him I placed my feet in his tracks 
until the ascent became too steep even for 
that. Then lying down flat, by the aid of 
some small bunches of willow brush we drew 
ourselves up several yards and across to the 
draw, up which we finally were enabled to 
reach the ram. He had fallen head down, 
and to prevent the blood from getting around 
his head and scalp, which would ruin it for 
mounting, it was necessary to turn him so that 



100 THE UPPER YUKON 

his head would be up. This took much time 
and care, as we were in peril of slipping down 
to the bottom of the draw because of the sharp 
and easily moved small stones that coated the 
surface of the mountain. 

On dissecting the ram, we found that the 
bullet had gone through the heart, and, pass- 
ing through the body, had struck the big stone 
behind him. This accounted for our seeing 
the missile hit the rock. When the head was 
removed, the balance of the carcase was al- 
lowed to roll all the way down to the foot 
of the mountain. 

Carefully picking our way down by using 
our upward tracks, we counted, as well as the 
situation would permit, the number of paces 
it was from where the ram fell to the rock I 
shot from. It seemed almost impossible of 
belief that the distance was no less than eight 
hundred paces, and yet both of us reached the 
same calculation. If we were only fairly cor- 
rect in our measurement, it will show what 
a wonderful weapon the new 8 M Mannlicher 
rifle is to carry a bullet almost vertically and 
kill at that distance. 

The Chief was so much impressed with the 
incident that he promised to send official no- 
tice to the Geographical Department of the 



URSUS HORRIBILIS loi 

Territorial Government, together with the 
location of this mountain, asking that the 
mountain be registered on the map as "Mount 
Martindale." 

As but a small fraction of the mountains and 
streams are named, the department is more 
than pleased to comply with such a request. 
In this way we already have Potter Moun- 
tain, called after Mr. Wilson Potter, who 
killed a goat on that mountain under pe- 
culiar difficulties. There are also Havermyer 
Mountain and Disston Mountain, named for 
similar reasons. 

Some days after this, my companion also 
shot a ram up a precipitous mountain, the 
dead animal rolling down quite a piece until it 
bounced over a rock a distance of fifty feet 
into a swiftly running stream, necessita- 
ting a trip of nearly a mile to secure it. 
This mountain is to be called Lewis Moun- 
tain. 

The Ashiack tribe of Indians, inhabiting 
and hunting in this section of the Yukon Ter- 
ritory, have a superstition against either going 
close to, or climbing over, a glacier. They 
tell a story of an Indian brave and an Indian 
maiden, who, against the admonitions of the 
medicine man, attempted to defy this super- 



I02 THE UPPER YUKON 

stition by ascending the famous "Nazarhat" 
Glacier, which in one portion of it has a deep 
depression or cavity. The pair of lovers met 
with no difficulties whatever until from the 
top of the rim they looked down into the won- 
ders of this "big hole." They were then 
speedily entranced, and became rooted to the 
spot. Neither of them being able to break 
the spell, they were both frozen to death, as 
they were incapable of flight. Their bodies 
were soon turned into gigantic pillars of ice, 
which remain to this day as everlasting monu- 
ments to warn all Indians from defying the 
stern decrees of "the Great Spirit." Thus 
runs the legend, and for this reason the Indi- 
ans give a wide birth to glaciers. 

For several days we had been hunting in 
the close neighborhood of a glacier which 
formerly filled a huge gorge shaped like an 
inverted letter "V," but which has, during the 
ages since its creation, been slowly shrinking, 
so that now it forms a gap through which flow 
the warm south winds from the coast — dis- 
tant say eighty miles. The well-marked 
trails of caribou and mountain sheep on the 
snow covering this glacier could easily be 
seen from the top of other mountains. 
Without expressing the desire, I often 



URSUS HORRIBILIS 103 

thought I should like to climb this glacier 
and go down the other side. 

One day, after a very long stalk of a big 
bull caribou, we found ourselves late in the 
afternoon quite close to this glacier. Then, 
in turning the foot of a steep mountain, we 
saw at the head of a draw a band of seven 
large rams, one of them having an exception- 
ally fine head. 

They were on a narrow ledge of hard rock, 
which extended along the tops of three other 
draws, making a sort of aerial sheep-walk. A 
careful survey of the situation showed us that 
as the wind was, we could not get at them 
from the rear. They must be approached 
from the front, and in full view. The Chief 
suggested tethering the horses where they 
could be plainly seen. Then he would cross 
over to the third draw to the left, and climb 
up that draw as fast as possible, while I 
climbed the face of the mountain. When 
the sheep finally turned and ran, he believed 
they would run to the left over the elevated 
sheep-walk. Then I was to climb quickly 
and get behind a rock that was located about 
half-way up. The Chief would fire a shot 
when they arrived at the far draw, and thus 
turn them back again. This was done and 



I04 THE UPPER YUKON 

worked out to perfection. When the Chief's 
shot was fired, I had already gotten to the 
rock, behind which I kneeled, resting the rifle 
on its edge. 

I had just a little time to quiet down and 
give my lungs a rest after the exertion of the 
climb, when the rams came pouring over the 
draw. Numbers one, two, and three ran to 
the right and disappeared; next came the 
grand big fellow of the bunch, running at a 
remarkably fast pace. I aimed directly at 
the back of his head — the bullet struck him 
on the right fore-shoulder, going through to 
the left shoulder and making a fatal shot. He 
rolled down until stopped by a rock half-way 
between us. It was a long shot and one that 
the Chief praised much, on account of the 
great speed with which the ram was going, 
and because of the high elevation of the 
quarry. 

To get up to the ram, dress him, and mount 
him on Charley, took considerable time, and 
now we were confronted with the fact that we 
were twenty-five miles from the camp and it 
would soon be night. Besides this, a hot wind 
had been blowing all day directly from the 
coast and the snow and ice were melting on 
the mountains, the water tearing down their 



URSUS HORRIBILIS 105 

sides into the streams below, thus filling them 
to overflowing. The Chief said not a word, 
but led Charley directly towards the glacier 
of which I have previously spoken. When 
we had gotten to it, he promptly led his horse 
out upon it, and I asked him what he meant 
to do. He said he was going to cross it. He 
had never climbed this glacier, neither had 
any other white man so far as he knew, but 
we must get over it in some way or else lay 
out all night. 

When I remarked that I could not climb 
that sheet of snow and ice and go down the 
other side, as I had nothing on my feet but 
moccasins, he soon settled the question by cut- 
ting two pieces of rope and tying one around 
and under the instep of each foot, saying: 
"Come on now, you won't slip." 

He led Charley, and I led Billie. There 
was a goodly crust of frozen snow on top of 
the ice, and this, when broken through by our 
steps, brought us in touch with the rapidly 
melting ice and running water underneath, 
which in turn filled my footwear with icy wa- 
ter. There was no time or place to remedy 
this condition, so we grimly plodded on, yet 
always slipping back some with each step. 

At last we reached the top, which was found 



io6 THE UPPER YUKON 

to be nearly flat, and then, without stopping 
to rest, commenced the descent. Here my 
ropes did not help me as well as in going 
up. The slipping was almost continuous, 
and in one of these unavoidable slides, 
I slipped down with a slap-bang thud. It 
was up to my trousers to keep me from in- 
jury, as I was in the position of a boy coast- 
ing down a steep hill seated on a sled, only 
there was no sled between me and the ice. 
But the trousers proved themselves to be 
staunch and tough and I slid safely. When 
the ice pack was finally crossed we struck the 
swiftly- running water; in the water were big 
stones and with the aid of these I was soon 
able to brace my feet and once more rise to 
a perpendicular position. 

We found the moraine on this side im- 
passable, so we were compelled to make a de- 
tour to the right where we struck a large 
inclined plane. It now became dark, so I 
mounted Billie and gave him the freedom of 
the bridle to pick out the path leading down 
to the river bottom. He had frequently been 
on this incline feeding, so he was supposed 
to know the way. Carefully yet confidently 
he jogged along in the darkness, and all went 
well until he suddenly stopped on the edge 



URSUS HORRIBILIS 107 

of a bank with a sheer drop of perhaps fifteen 
feet to the bed of a roaring creek below. 
Both of us dismounted, and the Chief said that 
Biliie had led us to where a trail ought to 
be, down which we should have reached the 
bottom, but the roaring flood had washed it 
away. By feeling, it was found that the 
ground was soft and free from stones where 
the' descent had to be made, so we concluded 
to break off a bit of the edge and then, leading 
Biliie up to it, to let him slide down on his 
four feet. This was done, and when Biliie 
understood what he was expected to do, he 
reached down with his front feet as far as 
he could, then, quickly letting himself go, he 
brought his hind feet up to his forefeet, and 
in a jiffy was safely down. Charley came 
next, and he also landed below without trou- 
ble. Next the Chief slid down, and I 
followed. 

In a short time we emerged from the mouth 
of this roaring creek into the river bottom. 
The rumbling of water rushing down the 
mountain sides and the occasional crashing of 
blocks of ice from the glacier made a noise 
that was almost deafening. 

The river, in place of being confined en- 
tirely to two main streams, had now over- 



io8 THE UPPER YUKON 

flowed its banks, and auxiliary streams were 
running in many different directions. We 
avoided fording the main streams as long as 
we could, but finally we came to a place where 
we must cross, and that, too, in the dark, at 
about half-past eleven at night. The Chief for 
some reason thought Charley was the best 
animal to find the way across, so he mounted 
and carefully led the way until the deep rush- 
ing water was reached. Then he let Charley 
choose his own path, and this he did by at- 
tempting to cross at right angles to the flow 
of the stream. This carried him ofif his feet 
and he had a hard and wet time of it before 
landing on the far side. 

I waited with Billie until the Chief had 
gotten across, and then gave Billie the bridle. 
Now notice the difference. Billie would put 
down one foot and carefully feel for a stone, 
then with the other foot grope around until 
he found another stone, and so on, all the 
while taking a slanting course. He thus 
crossed without losing his footing at all. Of 
course the Chief and I were both wet. We 
soon found some wood and started a fire. 
Fortunately I had a couple of pairs of dry 
socks in my saddle bag and an extra pair of 
shoes fastened to the pommel of my saddle, 



URSUS HORRIBILIS 109 

and with dry shoes and socks, and a cup of 
hot mate to warm the inner man, we crossed 
the various little streams, and rode on until 
we landed in camp at 12.30 in the morning. 

Now the Chief, insisting that I was the 
first white man to cross this particular gla- 
cier, has promised that in future it shall be 
called the "Martindale Glacier," and shall be 
so placed upon the maps of this region. 



CHAPTER VII 

A PECULIAR STALK 
" 'Tis the unexpected that always happens." 

WE waited for several days to see if our 
friend, the silver-tipped grizzly, would 
have forgotten that he had come in contact 
with our scent when he made such a quick exit 
over the divide. 

Early on a particularly fine morning we 
went back again and, posting ourselves high 
up on the opposite side of the canyon, sat 
down to watch through the glasses. We were 
there most of the forenoon, but no bear 
appeared. 

After eating our midday lunch we saw a 
couple of cow caribou come over the divide, 
then a few more, and soon still others, until 
nine cows were in sight. These were fol- 
lowed by a spike-horn bull and lastly the herd 
bull appeared. Something must have dis- 
turbed them on the other side, as they com- 
m.enced one by one to lie down and rest. 
However, they were restless and seemed to be 



A PECULIAR STALK in 

afraid of something back of them, as their 
heads were frequently turned that way. 
Where they were located it was impossible 
to stalk them, as the wind was bad. We came 
down to the canyon from our elevation and 
I fired a shot to see if it would bring them 
down to where a safe shot could be had. The 
reverberation of the rifle had hardly ceased- 
when they were up and moving downwards. 
Their line of travel was a slanting one 
that took them a mile or more up the 
canyon. They soon passed entirely out of 
sight. 

Following their general direction of travel, 
we leisurely led the horses until perhaps a 
mile had been covered. The horses were then 
tethered and we slowly and carefully con- 
tinued the stalk. For a long time their lo- 
cation was a conundrum. It seemed as if 
they had been spirited away, but where, was 
the question. 

We had been picking our way along the 
sides of the canyon; now we came to a piece 
of bench-land well covered with willow 
brush, and some spots where rich grass was 
growing. A sudden twist in the wind came 
and the whole herd, which had been lying 
down, jumped up right before us. How they 



112 THE UPPER YUKON 

did "sail" away! The bull as he ran was 
blanketed on both sides by one or more cows 
and at first it was impossible to get a clean 
shot without hitting a cow. They ran to the 
bed of the stream, which at this point was 
half a mile wide. Here they spread out, 
and a long shot at last brought down the bull. 
He was in fairly good condition, having some 
little fat on his back and intestines. His 
stomach was filled with the white moss which 
they are so fond of, and his antlers were mas- 
sive and regular. 

The young bull that we had seen at a dis- 
tance and thought but a spike horn we found 
had a fairly developed set of antlers when 
seen at close range. The cows looked espe- 
cially sleek and fat and well conditioned. 
The stalk had lasted so long and we were so 
far away from camp that we left the head and 
scalp to be brought home next day by one of 
the men. We did not reach camp until about 
eleven o'clock that night. 

The Chief had for some days been plan- 
ning a "moose drive" and the following morn- 
ing was to give us a taste of this new plan 
of hunting the moose. 

In other sections of the continent where 



A PECULIAR STALK 113 

moose abound, I have hunted them by stalk- 
ing; by using the moose-horn in calling — 
both by day and night; and by sitting down 
and watching by the side of either a run-way 
or a lick. I remember well lying out one 
cold night behind a big rock close to the lake 
on my own grounds in Maine. A bull and a 
cow moose had for several nights been using 
a trail that led past this boulder on their way 
to a portion of the lake where the, lily pads 
grew in plenty. 

It was in the latter part of October, and 
the wind was right. With plenty of cover- 
ing I fixed up a place behind the rock where 
I could lie, and where a shot might be ef- 
fective even before the rock was passed. The 
night was overcast and towards nine o'clock 
it became quite dark. Just back of the hid- 
ing place was a good-sized spruce tree, with 
two of its lower branches extending out over 
the rock. 

In such a tryst the minutes as they pass 
seem to be of extra length, while a whole 
hour's watching and listening makes one 
think that morning must be near. When sit- 
ting out all night it is hard to gauge the pass- 
ing hours. Nothing was heard of the coming 
of the pair of moose; in fact, there were no 



114 THE UPPER YUKON 

sounds of any kind whatever. Absolute still- 
ness reigned supreme, and the drop of the 
proverbial pin could have been heard. 

Then, without previous warning, a pierc- 
ing screech came from some object apparently 
on one of the two extending limbs of the 
spruce tree directly over my head, I divined 
that the animal was a Loupcervier, or, in 
common parlance, a Lucevie — a species of 
Lynx. 

Hastily drawing my hunting knife, as I 
expected every second that the big cat would 
jump on me, I waited breathlessly for his 
spring, but nothing more was heard. The 
hours rolled slowly by and daylight appeared 
and as "the sun with one eye vieweth all the 
world," so I made a careful s-earch of the 
ground to see if the tracks of such a blood- 
thirsty creature were anywhere to be found. 

There were many tracks engraved in the 
soft bottom that hereabouts prevailed, but 
none that showed the sharp claws or the pad- 
ded-like feet of a large cat. Neither did 
the bark of the tree show any signs of a large 
animal having climbed it. What, then, could 
it have been? Careful investigation showed 
that it was nothing else than a screech owl — 
the owl that is "not able to endure the sight 



:■■> \ 











o 



A PECULIAR STALK 115 

of day." He is by kind nature provided with 
a soft down which lines the underside of his 
wings, so that his flight is noiseless, and this 
provision helps him in hunting for his sus- 
tenance, even on the darkest of nights. It 
is thus that an all-wise Creator enables birds 
of prey that hunt only by night to seek for 
and secure their food. 

But now we were to hunt the moose in a 
different manner, by means of a moose-drive, 
and this is how it was arranged. To the 
north of where we had been hunting, the 
river on both sides was fringed with a fairly 
thick cover of timber consisting for the most 
part of balsam fir and spruce trees. The 
banks of the river were quite steep, and only 
in places where a stream poured its waters 
into the river could the horses, by following 
the bed of the stream, be taken to the plateau 
above. 

The plan was for the two guides and we, the 
hunters, to leave camp at six o'clock, travel 
down the bed of the river for a distance of 
five miles, and then, following a creek up to 
the highlands, pick out a place where each 
hunter could keep his eyes on a moose run- 
way for some distance in front of him. 

Two hours after the hunters had left, the 



ii6 THE UPPER YUKON 

two wranglers were to follow us on horse- 
back, and travel along the plateau leading 
from the first stream they came to. One was 
to travel close to the river's bank, and the 
other was to keep abreast of him on the 
higher level perhaps a quarter of a mile away. 
There were many fir trees standing by them- 
selves whose lower branches were dead, and 
these when touched with a match would burn 
and quickly snap almost like fire crackers. 
The flames would then rapidly shoot to the 
tops of the trees, making a brilliant fire ac- 
companied by a dense smoke. There was no 
danger of a forest fire, as the trees that were 
fired were ahvays old trees and for the most 
part dead at the bottom, and they nearly al- 
ways stood alone. The crackling of the 
lower branches could be heard from afar, 
and the scent of the burning wood would soon 
be caught by the sensitive nostrils of any 
moose that might be in the vicinit}^ Each 
man was to watch out so that the tree that was 
fired should be on a line as nearly as possible 
with his companion's tree. Thus they slowly 
worked their way tow^ards our rendezvous. 
We soon could see from afar the pillars of 
smoke ascending to the sky, but it was some 
time before we saw the fire. 



A PECULIAR STALK 117 

We had been assigned a suitable position 
about three-eighths of a mile away, and all 
was silent for a time until the sound of three 
shots rang out to our left. After that the 
Chief and I heard nothing more, neither did 
we see game of any kind. The horsemen 
having now appeared, that settled the drive 
for the day. The Chief said that the wind 
had turned just enough to drive the moose 
across the river, rather than straight down to 
us. But my companion, who had fired the 
shots, had brought down a fair-sized moose 
which had come within easy rifle shot of 
him. 

The next day we crossed the river and in 
the same manner "drove" the other side. But 
once again the wind changed and nothing was 
accomplished. 

We now moved camp to a basin or depres- 
sion on that side of the river, at the back of 
a series of high and steep pinnacles to the east. 
The tents having been pitched, supper eaten, 
and a good fire made, around which we were 
standing, as it was quite cold, some one said : 
"Look at the wolverine." Casting our eyes 
up to the top of the nearest pinnacle we saw 
a moving object which turned out to be a 
grizzly. He had seen us and the camp fire. 



ii8 THE UPPER YUKON 

and perhaps had scented the smoke, for he 
was off with a rush. 

Thus we had another lesson demonstrating 
the rapidity with which a grizzly bear can 
get out of sight. 

There were four high pinnacles in front of 
us; the largest and steepest was directly above 
our camp; the other three were to the left. 
Between the largest butte and the next was a 
pass in the center. Here was a small lake, 
around whose shores were many tracks that 
showed the presence of moose. I took a 
moose-horn, and at about nine o'clock at night 
I sat down near the little lake and made three 
calls some fifteen minutes apart. I heard a 
distinct answer to the first call, showing that 
at least one bull moose was in that vicinity. 

The following morning we climbed the tall 
butte and saw from its peak a bull and three 
cows in the bottom land below. The wind, 
however, was against us. The forenoon was 
spent in exploring a wide plateau; in the aft- 
ernoon, after eating lunch, we returned and 
sat on the peak of the butte, and before night 
arrived we saw, in all, eight cows, one spike 
horn, three "outside" bulls, and one remark- 
ably fine herd bull, with antlers having a 
spread of at least seventy inches. This bull 



A PECULIAR STALK 119 

had a jet black coat, white legs, and not a very 
large body; we made him out to be a com- 
paratively young moose. He was intensely 
jealous of the other three bulls and when any 
one of them came too near a member of his 
harem, he would be up and after him like a 
streak, and this energetic exercise kept him 
on the jump most of the time. 

It will be borne in mind that we were at 
a great height above the animals, and could 
see their doings just as if it was a drama that 
was being performed at our very feet. 

The herd fed in the open for a couple of 
hours, and then "Brigham Young," the herd 
bull, evidently signaled the members to move. 
Without exhibiting any alarm or undue speed, 
they stopped feeding, went up into the for- 
est, and passed out of sight. 

The following morning we again climbed 
the tall butte. We examined the forest be- 
low with our glasses, but for a couple of hours 
we failed to locate the herd. Then the ani- 
mals were discovered feeding, a mile or so to 
our left, which necessitated a journey down 
from the peak of the high butte and a climb 
of the next one to the left. By the time the 
second one was surmounted, the quarry had 
moved yet farther away. Down we went 



I20 THE UPPER YUKON 

again, and climbing the third butte we spent 
the balance of that day in watching the ca- 
prices of this most interesting family. 

As I think over this long vigil, which lasted 
in all nearly three days, I wonder if any other 
group of men ever had such an opportunity 
as fell to our lot. What could be more in- 
structive or more interesting to a student of 
nature than to be able to watch such a group 
of animals from an elevation high enough to 
be out of range of the scent, and yet near 
enough to enable us to see and interpret every 
action? ''Brigham" seemed to lavish most of 
his attention upon an old reddish-colored cow, 
and whenever she was in sight we generally 
could locate him, for she was ever near him. 

This day, again, the wind was blowing di- 
rectly from us to them, so that we could not 
in any way stalk them and get a safe shot. 
The peculiar action upon the part of any one 
of the cows when one of the three smaller 
bulls approached her, in the apparent en- 
deavor to ingratiate himself into her good 
opinion, was interesting. She would at once 
run to "Brigham" and possibly tell him 
that the saucy young bull was annoying 
her, perhaps insulting her. If "Brigham" 
was lying down, he would bounce up and 



A PECULIAR STALK 121 

chase the intruder away with a vengeance, 
sometimes getting close enough to the vouth 
to give him a swipe with his antlers. This 
procedure was followed from time to time 
nearly all afternoon. 

The day had worn on until the sun had set; 
the twilight was approaching, when we heard 
the gruff voice of a big bull coming through 
the pass behind us, between the third butte 
(the one we wxre on) and the fourth, which 
was to our left. We soon saw him, and 
named him ''Sir Ivanhoe," from his brave 
and fearless demeanor. 

"Sir Ivanhoe" would frequently stop and 
paw the earth, throwing the dust and dirt over 
his head. Then in a strong but guttural voice 
he would issue his challenge to fight any 
bull moose in that wdiole vicinity — "bar 
none." 

We now saw that the three young bulls 
were listening to the newcomer's challenge, 
and as "Sir Ivanhoe" came nearer, they ad- 
vanced cautiously from their different posi- 
tions to see what manner of antagonist was 
approaching them. A small lake or pond 
intervened between the rivals. "Sir Ivanhoe" 
was rapidly nearing it; yet he would stop 
every few minutes to throw out his defiant 



122 THE UPPER YUKON 

challenge. When he at last spied the three 
rivals, they had closely bunched together, 
without any one of the three having heart 
enough to come out alone. It was like 
Goliath challenging David, that he, the 
youngster, would take the gauge of battle 
upon himself. ''Sir Ivanhoe" crossed around 
the far end of the little lake and slowly neared 
the three would-be fighters. When his size 
and fierce looks had been fully recognized by 
the three, they severally turned tail and, no 
doubt believing that "he who fights and runs 
away will live to fight another day," they were 
soon lost in the depths of the forest. 

All this time "Brigham" was lying on his 
left side with his head up, eagerly scanning 
the newcomer. Presently we saw two cows, 
one of them being the old red cow, run up to 
"Brigham," evidently in some way telling the 
chief that he must up and protect them from 
this rude invader. "Brigham" apparently al- 
ready had made up his mind that it was now 
absolutely necessary to fight, if he was to main- 
tain his position as chief of the harem. Now 
or never was the time to humble this proud 
usurper by a battle to the finish. He raised 
himself slowly, and, with his great antlers 
reaching to their highest level, he majestic- 



A PECULIAR STALK 123 

ally took a few steps towards "Sir Ivanhoe," 
who now had stopped his boasting. 

Near the margin of the little lake was a 
slight elevation of the soil, perhaps a foot and 
a half in height. Upon this "Brigham" took 
his stand and calmly looked his opponent 
over. He made no ''talk" whatever, but just 
stood and looked with all the majesty of his 
kingly presence. On his side "Sir Ivanhoe" 
appeared to wonder at the size and weight 
of his opponent's great antlers as he stood be- 
fore him, and then, believing that "discretion 
was the better part of valor," he followed the 
example of the three young bulls who had fled 
before him. Quickly turning around, he 
lost not a minute in taking himself out of 
sight and of hearing. 

Thus closed the drama of the Moose fam- 
ily on the second day of our observations, and 
for that season at least the question as to which 
bull should be master of the herd was settled. 

The morning of the third day found us once 
more on the peak of the third pinnacle, and 
once more we failed to locate the moose for a 
couple of hours. Then we spied them feed- 
ing near the base of the fourth butte. This 
we climbed, arriving at the top between nine 



124 THE UPPER YUKON 

and ten o'clock, with the wind still in the 
wrong quarter. We watched the animals 
with the same eager attention as on the pre- 
ceding two days. The same routine was fol- 
lowed by the herd of moose as before, the old 
red cow still being the center of attraction to 
''Brigham." 

There being no water handy on our high 
elevation, and not wanting to make a fire, we 
ate a cold lunch consisting of a cold mutton 
chop each, dry bread, and a handful of rai- 
sins. When we had finished we were over- 
joyed to find that the wind had suddenly 
changed, and it was now blowing almost 
with the strength of a gale right in our 
faces. 

In the meantime the band of moose had 
disappeared into the depths of the high for- 
est, in front of us, and as everything was now 
favorable for a successful stalk, we went 
down the face of that butte on a run. 

At the bottom we skirted a small lake, and 
soon struck the trail of the herd. This we 
found to be quite fresh, and to lead directly 
up the forest on a rather steep slant. This 
necessitated a cautious ascent, and we there- 
fore made our advance on our hands and 
knees, carefully watching out for small fallen 



A PECULIAR STALK 125 

branches of trees so as not to snap them and 
thus make a noise. 

For the first and only time on the whole 
trip, we were badly pestered with swarms of 
annoying and aggravating sand flies. These 
pestiferous insects got into our eyes, ears, and 
nose, and the farther we went into the deep 
woods, the worse the nuisance became. A 
half-hour's crawling on hands and knees 
brought us within sight of some of the cows. 
Now we crawled on our stomachs. I held 
out my rifle before me as we moved, and 
warily watched for "Brigham." Knowing 
that we now must be very close to him, every 
move was well considered before making it. 
By this time I was nearly choking for wa- 
ter, as the dried raisins eaten at lunch seemed 
to clog my throat as if I had swallowed muci- 
lage. Fifteen, maybe twenty, minutes went 
by, and yet we had seen nothing of the king. 
Then the old red cow walked out into a small 
valley that was covered with rich grass. It 
was tall and swayed in the breeze. We 
felt sure now that we must be quite close to 
his majesty. At last the Chief spied him to 
my left, and whispered that he was not more 
than forty yards away. "Shoot, and shoot 
quick!" he said. At this very particular and 



126 THE UPPER YUKON 

important point, I was practically stran- 
gling, as one of the little sand flies had gotten 
down my throat and I was nearly paralyzed in 
an endeavor to keep from coughing. With 
my left hand pressed tightly against my mouth, 
and with my face closely hugging the ground, 
I had to cough, no less than three times (and 
it couldn't have been helped if all the moose 
in the country had been before me). And 
what think you happened? 

His majesty heard the coughing and, with 
lightning-like speed, he gave the signal to his 
herd to run more quickly than I can write it, 
and not only he but every member of the herd 
was out of sight in a minute. 

The Chief said some strong words in a very 
strong voice, and when I at last found my 
speech I said: "Chief, I don't swear myself, 
but I'll give you leave to swear as much, and 
as hard as you can, until you are once more 
at ease." 

We picked up the trail of "Brigham" and 
found by his tracks and those of the others, 
that all of the herd had run away as fast 
as they could go; so it was useless to follow 
them. It was a discouraging ending to our 
three days' stalk. As night was upon us, we 
wended our way back to camp. Neither of 



A PECULIAR STALK 127 

us had anything to say, but both did a pile of 
thinking. Surely under the circumstances 
"silence was golden." Yet *4t's the unex- 
pected that always happens." 



CHAPTER VIII 

A CHANGE OF BASE 

"To-morrow let my sun his beams display 
Or in clouds hide them. I have lived to-day." 

ACCORDING to our program it was 
now time to commence a gradual jour- 
ney to the outer world. The camp was 
broken up, and our pack horses were loaded 
with horns, antlers and dunnage. We 
crossed over a divide and struck an extended 
water shed with a large stream swiftly flowing 
through a wide valley. Deep caribou trails 
were seen in different directions; in one place 
they were nearly two feet in depth. Gophers 
were plentiful and so were the ptarmi- 
gan. 

On this march I saw the only Wilson 
snipe that we sighted during the whole trip. 
We were now in close touch with another 
hunting party consisting of Mr. R. B. Slaugh- 
ter — a famous hunter from Chicago — and 
Stephen B. Elkins, Jr., of West Virginia. 
The latter had experienced much trouble with 



A CHANGE OF BASE 129 

his cartridges. He was using an 8 Mil. 
Mannlicher rifle — the same kind of weapon 
that we were using. He had purchased 
American cartridges, and about every other 
one for some reason failed to explode. The 
Chief made a call at their camp and, finding 
out that Mr. Elkins was in need of cartridges, 
we were pleased to be able to supply his wants 
with some that had been made in Vienna, 
Austria. 

It's a nasty thing to travel thousands of 
miles in search of big game and then to find 
the ammunition defective and unreliable, and 
more particularly where bears are to be 
hunted. 

That evening we were In bed early, so as 
to have a good start in the morning. Our 
route for the new day was to cross another 
divide which required a long and torturous 
journey before we got to the summit. Once 
there, we lunched on its crest and from our 
high elevation took in the wonders of the 
glorious scenery. To the right of our line of 
travel, a goodly sized stream forced its way 
through a canyon with high, snow-covered 
mountains on each side. The course of the 
stream being at right angles to us and its path 
straight away without any turning as far as 



I30 THE UPPER YUKON 

we could see, the sight was a most beautiful 
one and long to be remembered for its gran- 
deur. 

Over the summit of a certain mountain to 
the left a snow storm was tearing along at 
high speed. On the opposite side of the can- 
yon the sun was brightly shining and a rain- 
bow could be seen in the distance. Where 
we lunched the sky was clear and everything 
was pleasant. Such are the vagaries of this 
marvelous land. 

We were told that but fifteen miles away 
was the Alaskan boundary and some tall peaks 
which were pointed out a little to the left of 
the stream! were in Alaska. The air was 
clear, with a gentle breeze blowing in our 
faces as we commenced the descent. On the 
left side of us was a long and savage range of 
mountains covered with huge broken black 
rocks, the slopes carved into canyons and 
precipices. I did not dream when I first saw 
it on that day, that I would have to climb it 
two days afterwards, as it seemed almost im- 
passable. Here were spiral peaks with 
patches of snow, and as the sun shone on the 
massive accretion of scattered rocks and tall 
pinnacles, the variegated colors caused by the 
bright light falling upon such a conglomera- 







u 



A CHANGE OF BASE 131 

tion of broken granite and limestone made the 
vision a glorious one. 

When we had descended a couple of miles, 
the route led close to a tall pinnacle to the 
right, and back of it was an extensive inclined 
plane of perhaps two and a half miles in ex- 
tent, and a mile or more in breadth, leading 
up to another watershed. This inclined plane 
was well covered with white moss, the nour- 
ishing food that the caribou are so fond of, it 
being their principal food. 

The end of this day's journey brought us 
down to a basin-like bottom where our tent 
was pitched, and the horses let loose to feed 
on the deep grass which was here everywhere 
to be found. Whichever way we looked from 
this camp it seemed that we were faced by a 
divide, north, south, east and west. 

The first evening we spent here was one 
long to be remembered. Luminous banks of 
crimson clouds hung over the mountains, 
while dark and weird shadows were to be 
found in all of the depressions of the moun- 
tain sides, and the wonder of it all was the 
constantly changing light. 

Here the ptarmigan was found in enormous 
numbers, and their hoarse cackle made a great 
volume of sound that could be heard from 



132 THE UPPER YUKON 

every direction, both when in flight and when 
feeding. Their coat of feathers had turned 
nearly white, so as to be ready for the com- 
ing winter. 

The following morning we were ofif in 
search of bear trails. We saw many sheep, 
but did not molest them. Still no signs of 
Bruin. That night we went to bed early and 
the next morning the Chief said we would 
climb the great mountain that we had passed 
two days previously. He averred that go- 
phers would be there in abundance and at the 
crest bear ought to be found in the early 
morning digging them out. From our camp 
the distance was four miles. Nothing worthy 
of mention happened until we had climbed 
half-way up the big mountain and it was 
necessary to tether the horse and Billie, as they 
could not get any farther on account of the 
broken rocks. At this spot, on turning 
around to scan the horizon we noticed seven 
caribou cows coming down from the peak of 
the great inclined plane which has already 
been described. With the glasses we failed 
to see any bulls in the herd. 

When the apex of the rocky mountain was 
explored we were much disappointed in our 
expectations, for neither gophers nor bears 



A CHANGE OF BASE 133 

were visible. All of the first named animals 
had gone into winter quarters, and not a sin- 
gle one was seen. Neither were any bears or 
even their tracks to be found. We then must 
needs retrace our steps. On the return we 
looked with wondering eyes on the herd of 
caribou which now had increased from seven 
cows to thirty- two head in all. There were 
twtnty-seven cows, three "outside" bulls, one 
spike-horn, and the herd bull, which was quite 
a distance behind the bunch. They were all 
leisurely feeding on the inclined plane, and 
scattered about in every direction. At first 
the herd bull at the distance he was away did 
not look to be a very attractive specimen; but 
as we watched his descent from behind the 
shelter of the horses and as he came nearer and 
nearer, we discovered him, to be possessed of 
a grand spread of antlers. 

We had come out after grizzly bears, but as 
we had found none we could hardly be ex- 
pected to allow this fine bull to go unchal- 
lenged. It was there and then we decided to 
stalk him, but how? That was the question. 

From their actions it seemed as if the herd 
would cross through the canyon, come up 
our side, and over that divide. A good-sized 
butte was near us and behind this we led the 



134 THE UPPER YUKON 

horses. Then we climbed the butte, and lay 
down to watch the doings of the herd. 

Our first sight of the seven cows was at 
8.26 A. M. It was 9.23 when we climbed the 
butte. Soon something happened. The bull 
must have given a signal to the herd to turn 
and feed back again up the incline, as one by 
one they commenced to go that way, while he 
kept on towards the bottom. Charley and 
Billie were unpicketed and we moved ofif to 
the right, then descended as fast as our ani- 
mals could walk. We arrived at the bottom 
without having been discovered by the herd. 
Our animals were fastened in a secluded 
place. The Chief and I followed down along 
the bottom until we came to a tall pinnacle 
about nine hundred feet high, rising straight 
up from the canyon. This we climbed, and 
creeping on all fours came to the edge of the 
butte. The herd was well scattered and we 
found the old monarch lying down at full 
length directly beneath us. He looked the 
picture of a physically broken animal. My 
rifle had a strong recoil and I feared to try 
a shot at him from the peak, as I felt sure 
I would overshoot him, but the Chief insisted 
that by holding firm and shooting behind his 
body I would get him. I tried a shot, but as 



A CHANGE OF BASE 135 

expected it was a miss. Then such a scur- 
rying to and fro, principally on the part of 
the cows, one cannot imagine, and the remark- 
able thing about it was that in some way the 
cows almost instantly surrounded the bull. 
No matter which direction he took, he al- 
ways had a zealous body-guard from among 
his twenty-seven wives. 

It may easily be surmised that their line 
of flight would be to the top of the inclined 
plane, and so it was, but they never seemed 
to think of going in a straight line; they 
surged from one side of the plane to the 
other. 

In the interim I was doing some wild 
shooting. As the convoy of females always 
hung around the flanks of ''the master," and 
in front and back of him as well, in order not 
to hit any of the cows, I was taking the finest 
sort of fine shots. I consequently made many 
misses. To tell the absolute truth, and that's 
what I always aim to do, I fired no less than 
fifteen cartridges, and the only harm done 
was to knock a small point off one of the big 
bull's antlers. Now my last cartridge was 
fired. It was necessary to go back to where 
Billie was tied, and get a fresh supply of am- 
munition. It was now noon. The caribou 



136 THE UPPER YUKON 

were all up on the top of the plane, and we 
expected them to pass over and disappear 
down the other side. The Chief said we had 
better let the quarry alone for a while, build 
a fire, and get our lunch; then if the situation 
warranted we could follow them over the 
ridge. 

We ate a hearty meal, and I lay down on 
one of Billie's blankets with the saddle for a 
pillow — which was my invariable custom 
every day — and slept just a few minutes. It 
seemed to me that in this strange climate I 
could sleep sound at any time of the day and 
in any position, even on the back of Billie. 

Again we climbed the butte — of course 
keeping out of sight — and when the top was 
attained the herd seemed to be just about to 
drop down over the other side. Back we 
went to our mounts, and getting into the sad- 
dle we followed in the wake of the herd. 
The ground was soft, treacherous, and 
boggy, with an occasional piece of muskeag 
to look out for, so we made slow time, — yet, 
as things turned out, fast enough. We could 
not see the game from below, as we could from 
the butte, yet we went up very circumspectly 
for fear one or more of the herd might be lying 
down behind a small grassy elevation some- 



A CHANGE OF BASE 137 

where, and if they saw us the bunch would 
soon be away. At last from Billie's back I 
could make out the monarch's antlers, but I 
thought he was standing up, while in reality 
he was lying down. We jumped out of the 
saddles, tethered the animals, and commenced 
crawling on hands and knees towards the 
herd. As we got closer we found that the 
whole herd was feeding in an oblong depres- 
sion made by some former little lake, now 
dried up. The next thing of interest was "the 
king." He was really lying down on a small 
embankment, while at each side of him were 
two cows, two facing up the inclined plane 
and the other two facing down. Both pairs 
seemed to be acting in the capacity of sen- 
tinels or body guards for "his highness." 
Working our way nearer, we approached a 
fringe of small willow bushes and behind 
these we were hidden. I was to the left, and 
in trying to see over this line of brush I raised 
my head a few inches too high. One of the 
sentinels on the left saw me. Just how she 
imparted her discovery to the others I can- 
not tell, nor even imagine. Suffice it to say 
that within the space of half a minute she 
had by some occult power conveyed the 
startling information to every other animal 



138 THE UPPER YUKON 

of the herd that the enemy was upon them. 
"Run! Run! Run for your lives!" was the 
hurried admonition. 

The old bull was on his feet in an instant, 
and at once he made a dash for the front, with 
one cow running on each side, close enough 
to be grazing his flanks, while another cow 
was close behind him. This made a very poor 
chance for an effective shot. The rear cow, 
however, seemed unable to keep up the pace, 
and dropped behind a little. This gave me 
a chance for a shot, and taking a good aim I 
fired. 

"You've missed him again, and you'll never 
have another chance at him," said the Chief. 
"But look, he's staggering, the cows are 
running to and fro; something is about 
to happen. There, there, he's down at 
last!" 

It seemed almost impossible that he was 
surely down, as he had been living a sort of 
charmed life in dodging bullets up to the pre- 
vious moment. There was no mistake, how- 
ever, and as we walked up to the fallen mon- 
arch we found him already dead. When we 
had taken off his scalp it was found that he 
could hardly have lived many days, as his 
neck and shoulders were black and blue from 



A CHANGE OF BASE 139 

the hammering the other bulls had given him, 
which they would deal out to him when he 
had tried one of his characteristic rushes at 
them because of getting too near some of his 
wives. On the right shoulder a small stream 
of puss was running down, showing that his 
injuries had been inflicted several days pre- 
viously. There was not a particle of fat or 
suet on the back of his shoulders and he was 
as lean as the proverbial crow. 

When the head and antlers had been se- 
curely strapped on Charley and some of the 
other portions on Billie, we looked around to 
see where the balance of the herd had gone. 
Not over four hundred yards away were the 
three bulls, and two of the three were already 
fighting to see which would be the new king, 
while the third presumably would wait to try 
it out with the victor. 

But what of the twenty-seven wives of the 
''master of the harem"? They were in plain 
sight, calmly feeding as if nothing whatever 
had happened. There was not the slightest 
sign of nervousness or worry or fright. The 
old cry, "The King is dead; long live the 
King!" is true of animal life as well as of hu- 
man life. The wives, that but an hour be- 
fore had been so watchful in their care over 



I40 THE UPPER YUKON 

the king as to act as a body-guard for him, 
seemingly had now already forgotten him, and 
as soon as the mastery was decided among the 
other three bulls, they would cheerfully ac- 
knowledge the winner as their lord and 
master. 

Verily, verily, nature is seen to be more 
and more wonderful the longer we live, and 
as we learn to understand her mysterious pro- 
visions for the guidance of animal life, and 
for the reproduction of the species. 

This was all in all a most exciting day, 
from the first sight of the herd at 8.23 A. M. 
until we stooped over the fallen king at 4.28 
P. M. With the exception of the time taken 
for lunch, it was an almost continuous period 
of keen excitement mixed with many disap- 
pointments. No doubt in the years to come, 
of all the soul-stirring and almost heart-break- 
ing stalks that I have been in, this one of the 
great inclined plane will linger the longest in 
memory. I can recall it all — the sight of the 
herd feeding as it stretched out over the slope, 
the frequent battles between the youngsters and 
the old bull, the apparent affection of his 
wives, then the swift bullet going true to its 
aim, the short run, the final drop, and the 
Stalk was finished. 



CHAPTER IX 

AN INTERESTING TRAIL 

"I ne'er was a coward, nor slave will I kneel 
While my guns carry shot, or my belt bears a steel." 

WITH the desire to secure a bear, a 
journey was undertaken that for nov- 
elty and continued interest during its whole 
length warrants more than a passing comment. 
The route taken carried us upward by a 
gradual incline until we saw ahead of us a 
long undulating mountain, stretching a mile 
or so in length, with a sharp razor-like peak 
on top. The sides of this mountain were ex- 
ceedingly steep, and seemed to be nothing but 
an aggregation of small stones of varying 
sizes and shapes, most of them having sharp 
points. If a man were to slip over the peak, 
the stones would then start on a downward 
movement, carrying their human passenger 
with a constantly accelerating swiftness so 
that by the time the base was reached, there 
would be little if any life left in the unfor- 
tunate victim. 



142 THE UPPER YUKON 

The route taken by the Chief led up to the 
crest of this peculiar mountain. Each man 
led his mount. The ascent was gradual 
until the top was in sight, and then frequent 
saddles or hogbacks were met with. The 
ridge of this novel roadway was so sharp that 
it was absolutely necessary to straddle it, and 
always to keep one foot on each side of it. 

As we went ahead and led the horses, Billie 
jogged quite placidly behind me, occasionally 
reaching down with his long neck to pick 
a blade or two of grass on one side or the 
other of the sharp ridge. It was but poor 
picking, and he evidently became dissatisfied, 
not only with the want of grass, but with his 
master's speed. 

The writer has somewhat of a reputation as 
a fast walker and as a man who had led many 
"Hikes," but walking on level ground is 
one thing, and on a knife-like mountain ridge 
with an abyss on each side, is another. Now 
without any preliminary warning, Billie 
rudely and swiftly butted me in the rear with 
his head, and with such force that I nearly 
fell to my knees. My position was such that 
it made it difficult to turn around and scold 
him, without losing balance, and therefore 
falling or sliding over one side or the other. 



AN INTERESTING TRAIL 143 

The danger was too great for me to experi- 
ment. The proper and only thing to do was to 
walk faster, and this I did. 

Nothing happened until a steep decline 
confronted us, and I hesitated for a second or 
two before taking the first step. A sharp 
bump from Billie partly lifted me, partly 
shoved me, down this sharp descent, so that 
with one arm on each side of the sharp peak 
I slid about fifteen feet until another rise of 
the edge gave me a chance to get on my feet 
again. This novel trail led to a mountain 
covered with a few inches of snow, and where 
we first struck it, was a level plot of ground. 
Here we saw the mute and indubitable evi- 
dence of a tragedy that had been enacted on 
this plot not more than an hour before. The 
snow was beaten down, in a rude circle, by 
the claws of a large bird and the feet of 
some animal. Fresh blood was plentifully 
sprinkled on the snow, and some of the wing 
feathers of a large bird were scattered about. 
The feathers of a ptarmigan were also in evi- 
dence here and there. 

Looking over to the left side of the moun- 
tain, the trail of a fox was found leading up- 
hill to the scene of the conflict. The marks 
of the feet of the fox could be easily recog- 



144 THE UPPER YUKON 

nized in the snow. He had a large, bushy tail 
which, trailing on the snow, left its imprint 
as he had cautiously and silently crawled up 
the mountain side. 

The solution of the problem thus presented 
was easily made. The big bird was a hawk 
— probably a goshawk, who had swooped 
down on the unsuspecting ptarmigan, and, 
striking his cruel talons into the toothsome 
bird, had sailed up to the mountain top, the 
prisoner in the meantime making a hard 
struggle to escape. 

Mr. Reynard, the fox, had heard the cry 
of the captured bird, looked up, had seen its 
struggles as the hawk fleW away with it, and 
at once made for the top. His tracks showed 
that until he neared the summit he had gone 
up with good-sized jumps. Before the sum- 
mit was reached he had crawled a portion of 
the way; then, getting close behind the hawk, 
he had made his usual spring, — catching the 
big bird by the wing. The hawk probably 
dropped his prey, and, tearing himself from 
the fox's mouth by leaving his wing feathers 
behind him, he had sailed away, leaving Rey- 
nard in full possession and with freedom to 
finish the ptarmigan. 

At first we thought the fox had devoured 



AN INTERESTING TRAIL 145 

the bird of prey as well as the grouse, but we 
found no breast feathers of the hawk, while 
the snow was well covered with those of his 
victim. Thus the snow enabled us to see in 
retrospect the whole tragedy as if we had 
been eye witnesses of it. 

Says John Burroughs: "A man has a 
sharper eye than a dog or a fox, or than any 
of the wild creatures, but not so sharp an ear 
or a nose; the trained observer like most 
sharp-eyed persons sees plenty of interesting 
things as he goes about his work." 

It has always been my habit — which seems 
to be an instinct largely developed in me — to 
use my eyes, cars, and sometimes nose, when, 
in pursuit of game, no matter where I may be 
hunting or what the character of the game 
may be. 

In the wilderness of Maine in the year '94, 
I was early one morning following the fresh 
trail of a large bull caribou. The trail ran 
through a dense piece of spruce forest with a 
few pin-oaks scattered through. The ground 
was heavily carpeted with a thick and yield- 
ing moss. The path of the animal had been 
much traveled by a herd of caribou, and so 
there was no trouble whatever in following it. 
It was, of course, in the fall of the year; the 



146 THE UPPER YUKON 

leaves were falling from the pin-oak trees and 
where they were to be found the trail would 
be littered with sere, sun-browned leaves. 
On passing one of these places I noticed that 
an oak leaf that lay on top of the pile had a 
spot of red on it. Reaching down and pick- 
ing it up, I discovered the spot to be a drop 
of blood. I examined it carefully. The 
blood was from an animal that had been 
bleeding but recently, because it had not be- 
gun to coagulate. Being right in the center 
of the path, it might possibly have come from 
a wounded caribou. Of course, this sug- 
gested that some one had fired and hit the 
bull that I was following. 

Carefully laying the leaf down again, and 
marking the spot with two sticks, I hastened 
forward on the trail. A close examination of 
it for a distance of a mile and a half showed 
that the caribou was traveling at a regular 
and steady pace and no other drops of blood 
were on the trail; that he had occasionally 
stooped to take up a mouthful of moss, eating 
it as he walked; that his footing was firm and 
regular so that he could not have been the 
animal that had lost that single drop of blood, 
else his movements would have shown haste 
or perhaps staggering. I then turned and 



AN INTERESTING TRAIL 147 

went back to the leaf, which now showed 
coagulation. Taking the trail backward, no 
other drops were discovered, so again to the 
leaf I went once more. I looked in all di- 
rections, but no blood was to be seen. Then 
I looked upwards. Overhead was an oak 
tree; a large branch from it spread out over 
the trail. Hanging from the middle of that 
branch I saw something waving in the gentle 
breeze. It seemed to be glued to the side of 
the limb, and it was in a perpendicular line 
with the bloody leaf below. The solution of 
the puzzle came quickly now. The waving 
thing was the tail of a red squirrel. Some 
carnivorous bird or animal — most likely a 
marten, the red squirrel's most deadly enemy 
— had caught the saucy little fellow by the 
back of the neck, had killed and eaten him, 
the blood flowing down the side of the limb. 
The tail had been caught in the blood which 
acted like mucilage to fix it to the limb, and 
one drop of blood only had fallen to the 
ground, finding a resting place on the oak leaf. 

Now after this digression we must return to 
the story of our trail. 

The snow-covered mountain was crossed, 
and it turned out to be a divide, so down we 
went to another watershed. The canyon at 



148 THE UPPER YUKON 

the bottom was rocky, with a tempestuous 
stream racing through it. 

On the far side of the canyon the mountain 
went up with a precipitous face to an extreme 
height. At the very top was a ledge of rock 
jutting out some ten feet. On this rock a 
young ram stood gazing down upon our 
horses. The Chief said we were out of mut- 
ton for the table, and he would like to get 
that ram. It seemed an impossibility to get 
him at such a distance, but he said: "Lend me 
your Mannlicher — there's no telling how far 
that gun will carry, and I'm going to try to 
get him." So he aimed carefully and fired. 
The ram did not move, but seemed to be won- 
dering whence the sharp, spitting noise came, 
as the bullet passed by him. The second shot 
had a similar result; the third likewise; and 
the fourth and the fifth. On the sixth he 
juniped, and ran to the extreme right of the 
rock, where he again looked down upon us. 
At the seventh he turned with his stern to us. 
At the eighth he once more jumped, this 
time to the left, yet he was evidently so en- 
tranced that he could not take his eyes from 
us or the horses. The ninth seemed to be a 
miss, as did the tenth, but at the eleventh 
shot he fell over the edge and rolled down 



AN INTERESTING TRAIL 149 

the perpendicular side to within ten feet of 
the bottom. The stream was deep and swift 
but not very wide, but the rushing water 
washed a large portion of the rock on which 
the ram had fallen. Taking a long rope with 
him, the Chief mounted Charley, swam him 
across the deepest of the water, and, when the 
other side was reached, managed to get him on 
the rock. Then he gralloched the ram, tied 
him to the saddle, got Charley down from the 
rock, heading him for the other side and' 
jumped on the horse behind the sheep. 
Charley got across with both the sheep and 
the man without trouble. 

The strangest part of the shooting was that 
when we took the hide oiT the ram it was 
found that no less than five bullets had hit 
him, but one bullet only had penetrated to a 
vital spot. 

It is likely that the great distance, together 
with shooting in an almost perpendicular di- 
rection, deprived the bullets of their carrying 
and crushing capacity. 

That night, which was a cold one, we slept 
out in the open, and over the wood fire, be- 
fore sleep overtook us, we had much to talk 
about. 

The reason the Chief did the shooting was 



150 THE UPPER YUKON 

because we needed meat for the table and the 
young ram's horns were but partially grown 
and therefore would make but a poor trophy 
for the hunter. As the law permits the na- 
tives to kill game animals for food it was fit- 
ting and proper for the Chief to do the shoot- 
ing and not one of "the sports." 



CHAPTER X 

THE EFFECT OF AGE ON WILD ANIMALS 
"Youth must ever be served." 

ANIMAL life has some strange phases. 
This is seen in studying the habits of the 
elk, the moose, the caribou, and the mountain 
ram. 

Some years ago there was a famous moose 
on the headwaters of the Tobique River in 
Upper New Brunswick. He was an old 
moose that had been frequently shot at, and 
therefore he was more than ordinarily sus- 
picious and cautious in his travels. On ac- 
count of his age his hoofs were long and 
ragged, that is broken of? at the sides, with 
portions entirely wanting. As an old man's 
finger nails and toe nails will break and 
crack and chip off, so will the hoofs of an old 
moose. This one was known by the title of 
"The Big Moose of the Little Tobique f In 
soft spots, in muddy or clayey ground, his 
tracks showed up so large that the hunters 
could not believe that they belonged to a 



152 THE UPPER YUKON 

member of the moose family, and much dis- 
cussion was caused by them. 

When the writer first saw these famous 
tracks on one Wednesday evening, he said 
they were made by some huge caribou, but 
that night he lay out on the edge of a pond 
where the Big Moose of Little Tobique was 
accustomed to feed, and during that night 
and the nights of the Thursday and Friday 
following, he had the rare opportunity of 
watching him from a distance without being 
able to make a safe shot. A shot was finally 
made on the following Saturday morning 
when the first streak of daylight appeared. 

A young bull with two spike horns, mated 
with a large cow, was also feeding there each 
night, and repeatedly, when the old bull 
would wander a bit too close to the cow, the 
young fellow would wickedly rush at him 
and chase him away. This was done several 
times during each night. 

The old chap knew and realized the fact 
that his day of fighting had gone, and that the 
old adage "youth must be served" is true with 
a bull moose as well as with a human being. 
So he made no attempt at resistance; when 
attacked he simply ran away and that was 
all. 



EFFECT OF AGE ON ANIMALS 153 

When we had skinned him that Saturday 
morning and taken off his feet, we found that 
one measured 11^ inches from toe to heel. 
Each of the hoofs of the other three feet was 
broken and cracked at the edges, so that they 
did not measure as much. The average size 
of a bull moose's feet is 6^ inches. 

When a bull elk has lived past his prime 
some day he will be attacked by a pair of his 
sons or grandsons — young chaps — agile and 
strong. One youngster will attack him and 
fight until he is exhausted, when he will step 
to one side and the other will take his place, 
while the first one will rest. When the 
second one is out of breath the first one again 
attacks his sire or grandsire, and so the fight 
is continued until the patriarch is finally 
killed. During all of this battle, the cows 
will feed on placidly without paying the 
slightest attention to the tragedy that is being 
enacted before their very eyes. 

With the mountain rams almost a similar 
program is carried out; in reality confirming 
Darwin's theory of the survival of the fittest. 
The old rams are driven away by their sons 
or grandsons and compelled to associate with 
the young rams from two to three years old. 

The horns of the decrepit old fellow may 



154 THE UPPER YUKON 

be quite huge in size, but they are unstable 
and will crack or part easily in places; in 
other words they are no good, and are unfit 
for fighting with or for mounting. 

This was the case with the one which I 
killed on the first day of the season. The 
Chief would not even consent to my taking 
the head out as a curiosity, and therefore I 
left it. So according to the game law^s I had 
still two rams to get, and the following day 
after the seance with the four caribou bulls 
we were off early in search of a big ram. 
Nothing was seen but an occasional bunch of 
ewes and lambs until ten o'clock had come, 
when six rams were discovered feeding on a 
divide opposite the one over which we were 
traveling. Between us and the rams two 
miles and a half had to be covered before we 
would be near enough to shoot, and, as the 
ground was open and we would be in full 
view going down one side to the brook at the 
bottom and then climbing to the top of the 
far-off mountain, there was nothing to do but 
to watch and wait. We tethered our horses 
in the canyon on a good piece of grassy 
ground and worked our way to — and up — a 
tall pinnacle that rose high in front of the 
feeding rams, but two miles from the quarry. 



EFFECT OF AGE ON ANIMALS 155 

There was still considerable snow on the high 
places. It was soft snow and we slipped easily 
and often. On the extreme top of the biitte a 
sparce growth of young willow brush formed 
a screen, behind which I lay down in the 
snow for a while, until I found an opening 
in the rock at the left side where I could sit 
as if in an arm chair and watch from my 
point of vantage without getting wet with the 
melting snow. 

It was about eleven o'clock by the time the 
Chief and I were comfortably fixed for a long 
vigil. The rams fed a while and then came 
down from the peak of the mountain and 
walked out upon a ledge, whence they could 
sec what was going on in every direction. 
They cleared away the snow with their feet and 
the whole bunch lay down — four of them to 
sleep apparently, while the ram at each end 
kept an alert watch. With the noon-time 
came the desire for lunch, which we ate with 
zest. For a while afterwards I could not help 
going to sleep and thus kept company with 
the sleeping rams on the opposite side of the 
divide. When I awoke the sheep were stand- 
ing up, right in the sun, and a more glorious 
sight it would be hard to see anywhere, their 
graceful heads and horns and their milk- 



156 THE UPPER YUKON 

white bodies showing boldly against the 
green. 

At 2.30 a flock of young rams appeared on 
the top of their peak and commenced to feed 
down the mountain. There were with them 
two old "banished" rams, who seemed to be 
nervously watching the six rams in front of 
us. The Chief said that when all of the 
youngsters should come in sight of the 
"big six," the old fellows would start a 
stampede, and the youngsters as well as the 
two big ones would run down and across to 
our side, and up over our divide. Then the 
"big six" would follow them at their leisure. 
This was done to the letter. The flock of 
youngsters and the two discarded rams num- 
bered in all thirty-one. They came down 
and crossed the canyon, climbed up our side, 
and soon disappeared from view. The "big 
six" were now up and in motion. Soon they 
commenced to run down as the others had 
done. They hesitated, however, in the can- 
yon, and we could not see them down there 
as we were not close enough to the edge of 
the mountain. So for a while we had to 
conjecture as to which way they would take 
in climbing past us. If they went to the left 




w 



EFFECT OF AGE ON ANIMALS 157 

of us, we should lose them; if to the right, I 
might perhaps get a shot as they passed. But 
it was problematic. 

There were three rams with good heads 
and three with smaller horns. One of the 
first three had an exceptionally good head, 
and, of course, that was the one I wanted. 
Considerable time elapsed before we saw 
them again, during which period we had 
crossed around the butte to the right, as that 
seemed the most likely route for them to take. 
On this side the willow brush was thick and 
the bushes were high. Before having either 
heard or seen any member of the bunch, two 
of the smaller ones had climbed up our side 
and stood right up in the brush and stared me 
in the face only ten feet off. Here they got 
my scent and it took but a few seconds for 
them to get away. The noise they made 
startled three more and they came running 
up the right side too, while the sixth and last 
one disappeared to the left, and we saw him 
no more. As the three were coming straight 
toward us, on the jump, I easily picked out 
the big one and, withholding my shot until he 
got to a level with the pinnacle we were on, 
I was fortunate enough to place a bullet 



1^8 THE UPPER YUKON 

through his heart. Pie rolled down and 
down until he fell on the rock at the foot of 
the canyon. 

It was four o'clock and, while the Chief 
went down after the ram to dress him, I built 
a fire and soon had water boiling for the mate. 
When the Chief returned we ate the balance 
of our lunch and drank a couple of cups of 
mate. Leading the horse and Billie down to 
the bottom, the Chief put the ram on Charley's 
back and we were off on our long journey to 
the camp, arriving at ten o'clock and finding 
all the others in bed asleep. 

This day of all the days of hunting will be 
well remembered as a comfortable one, be- 
cause, from the peculiar position we were in, 
we watched the rams for six hours in complete 
comfort. While the weather was indeed 
cold and the wind was somewhat high, we 
were well sheltered, and did not feel it. 
Above all else we had a splendid opportunity 
of closely observing these beautiful, rare and 
interesting animals for a whole half day, first 
feeding, next as they were lying at rest, and 
lastly when they were on the run. 



CHAPTER XI 

STILL ANOTHER CHANGE OF BASE 

"How lush and lusty the grass looks! how green! 
Had I a plantation of this isle, my lord, 
All things in common nature should produce, 
Without sweat or endeavor." 

THE morning after the successful all-day 
stalk of the big caribou, we packed up 
and left early for another section of this wide 
country where moose might be found. Our 
course followed a rushing creek where a por- 
tion of the journey was made on a tableland 
comparatively easy to travel. 

At first the only vegetation of moment that 
was to be seen were patches of Willow brush. 
When we had eaten lunch and covered an- 
other mile or so, we came to a piece of well- 
timbered ground and saw many moose signs, 
but none of them at all fresh. The ground 
was a succession of fair-sized hills and valleys 
where rich grass was growing, with here and 
there a small lake. On the hillside leading 
to one of these beautiful sheets of water I sat 



i6o THE UPPER YUKON 

down in a piece of dense underbrush, where 
I could look out on the water without being 
seen. There I used the moose horn and 
called for an hour. During this time the 
peculiar sound of the horn actually seemed to 
entrance a cock ptarmigan, which came walk- 
ing along from some little distance and strut- 
ted around in full sight of me, all the while 
giving vent to a guttural clucking sound. 
Once he made a complete circle around my 
hiding place; when he arrived in front again 
he stood still, looking at me, and turning his 
head from side to side as if curious to find 
out who and what I was. 

Receiving no answer to my call from the 
animal for which the call was intended, we 
reluctantly left this most beautiful location, 
and found our way to the place where our 
men had in the meantime found a good camp- 
ing location and had pitched the tents for the 
night. 

The following morning we crossed a con- 
siderable elevation where there was much 
boggy ground and a fair piece of timber land 
mainly covered with balsam firs and spruce 
trees. Down the far side of this low moun- 
tain was a valley containing some little grass. 
The bottom land was well covered with vol- 



ANOTHER CHANGE OF BASE i6i 

canic pumice-sand, which shone white in the 
sun. 

In our journeys to the different hunting 
grounds where we spent from one to several 
days, we frequently found places where the 
pumice-sand showed on the sides of the moun- 
tains, high up, where the light soil had given 
away from a snow slide or heavy rains and 
thus left the pumice-sand exposed. This was 
the first spot, however, where we found the 
bottom land partly covered with this vol- 
canic deposit. On crossing the valley we saw 
the mute evidences of a fierce fight that had 
taken place between two large bull moose ap- 
parently during the preceding night. Each 
of the combatants had fought with all his 
might. When two human rivals become so 
bitter and vindictive as to warrant each one 
in saying "I'll fight till from my bones my 
flesh be hacked," we can have some idea of 
the fury of the ensuing conflict. This was 
the sight we saw that morning in the latter 
days of September. 

The white pumice-sand was splotched with 
blood. What little vegetation had been able 
to thrive on the thin covering of soil over the 
pumice deposits had been trampled to the 
ground or torn up by the roots in the fury of 



i62 THE UPPER YUKON 

the contest. The signs of blood were every- 
where to be seen. 

Early on this morning, a few minutes be- 
fore coming upon this moose battlefield, I 
had chided the Chief for wearing a pair of 
khaki trousers on a moose hunt, as the swish of 
the trousers when they rubbed against each 
other could be heard for a good distance 
away. He evidently remembered this, for, 
getting down on his knees, he rolled his 
trousers so high that they were silent as he 
walked. We must now be very close to one 
of the real giants of the moose family. 

The trail of the largest moose led up hill 
into the big timber, while that of his rival 
led along the bottom land to the left. Natu- 
rally we commenced to follow the one that had 
gone into the timber. The trail was fresh 
and in places bloody. As soon as we entered 
the timber we dropped on our hands and 
knees and made haste slowly but surely. The 
trail showed that our bull was accompanied 
by one or more cows, and a small track 
showed that a young moose — very likely a 
spike horn — also was in the bunch. 

We came to two balsam fir trees standing 
close together. I was on the left side of the 
trees; the Chief on the right. Here we 




Ui 



u 



w 



pq 



ANOTHER CHANGE OF BASE 163 

rested a bit, looked, and listened. The Chief 
whispered: "There goes a cow to the right — 
there's another, an old one. She's just got 
up. There's still another cow and a spike 
horn." None of these had I seen because 
they were on the wrong side of my tree. The 
Chief motioned for me to rise up on my 
knee and to be ready to shoot. I now crept 
o^fer to his side and hardly had I arrived be- 
fore an immense bull moose rose up and 
started for the peak of the mountain. I did 
not see his antlers, nor the front part of his 
body, but I managed to get a shot into his left 
hip which smashed the bone. He seemed to 
possess a supernatural power for getting into 
shady places and keeping out of sight by 
swiftly dodging from tree to tree. The shoot- 
ing was generally of the snap-shot variety as 
I was not able to see him in full until after I 
had heard the crash of his fall; then, I 
realized what a mammoth he was. The pur- 
suit had been longer than we had expected, 
as the distance from where the first shot was 
fired to the place where he fell was over nine 
hundred paces. 

When we were near enough to look him 
over, we discovered that his rival had driven 
the long point of an antler into our bull's 



i64 THE UPPER YUKON 

lungs, leaving an opening large enough for 
me to put my whole fist into. When the 
scalp was removed it revealed a dreadful 
looking mass of puss, while the flesh was ham- 
mered and bruised beyond belief. The re- 
moval of the hide the next day showed a simi- 
lar condition of the lower part of the body, 
while another swipe of the antlers had pene- 
trated the tough hide on his right rump and 
ripped it open for a length of thirteen inches. 
Unquestionably his rival must have had the 
best of the fight and yet he did not know it. 
This big bull would have had a sure but per- 
haps a lingering death in two or three days, 
as the tearing of the hide and the dreadful 
opening into the lungs would surely have 
finished him. As our bull came off with the 
three cows under his charge, he was in truth 
the victor, the battle having been made solely 
to determine which bull should control these 
three complacent cows and compel them to 
acknowledge him as their master. 

This moose had a spread of antlers of sixty- 
one and a half inches, not nearly as wide as 
those of the young bull that was saved by a 
sandfly, whose spread we estimated as seventy 
inches. But there was no comparison when 
the size of their bodies was considered. This 



ANOTHER CHANGE OF BASE 165 

one measured seven feet one and one-half 
inches from the bottom of his fore hoofs to the 
top of his shoulders. A modest estimate of 
his weight as he fell would be fourteen hun- 
dred and fifty pounds — so said the guides at 
any rate. Of course the cows disappeared 
from view, and presumably within a few 
hours when their appetites prompted them 
they would commence feeding again as if 
nothing had happened. The big bull would 
be forgotten, while his opponent of the night 
before would no doubt claim their allegiance. 
It would be interesting to know in what con- 
dition the new master of the harem would be 
in, as it is hardly to be expected that he man- 
aged to get away without a good hammering 
from his big rival. Who knows but what he 
might be ripped and torn as badly, if not 
worse, than our hero was, and if so he was 
greatly to be pitied. What a crashing of 
horns in the still hours of the night — what 
grunting and what a "blowing of bellows" 
there must have been while that midnight 
duel was being fought to a finish! To have 
been only a listener if not a spectator of this 
thrilling moose duel would In itself have been 
something to remember for years. 



CHAPTER XII 

"how much will you bet that you'll not 
kill a bear to-day? " 

"A red-letter day. 
One from many singled out. 
One of those heavenly days that cannot die." 

WE tarried two more days at this moose 
resort when my companion succeeded 
in killing a bull with a fifty-three inch spread, 
and the camp was once more taken down and 
a pilgrimage was made to another section 
where sheep abounded. We had need of 
mutton for the table, so this day the Chief and 
I managed to kill three young rams after a 
somewhat difficult stalk and we were thus 
supplied with enough fresh meat to last us 
about a week. It may be remembered that 
there were seven of us in all and it took good 
sized rations to satisfy our ravenous appetites, 
for in this bracing air and with the continu- 
ous hard outdoor work which was our daily 
portion we needed a liberal food supply. 
"Now good digestion wait on appetite, and 



"PiOW MUCH WILL YOU BET?" 167 

health on both" is a good invocation, but it 
was never needed by any one in our outfit. 
We had an undoubtedly good digestion, and, 
as for health, it often seemed to me while up 
there that I was back again in my boyhood 
days living on frugal fare, with plenty of hard 
work. In the west where the air is keen, 
pure, and bracing, with nothing to worry 
about, with an abundance of hope and "great 
expectations," I was light-hearted and happy, 
and the owner of a digestion that could make 
a feast out of a raw turnip freshly plucked 
from a farmer's field. 

It is an impossibility to make the reader ap- 
preciate the beneficent effect of the rare at- 
mosphere in this semi-arid territory so near 
the edge of the Arctic circle. You may well 
expect that it is exhilarating, that you would 
want to run, to shout, to whistle, and to play 
boyish pranks as of old. When you are 
finally settled down for a period of weeks or 
months, and all care is off your mind, you feel 
like saying: "I cannot speak enough of this 
content. It stops me here — it is too much 
joy." 

The next morning the Chief said to me: 
"How much will you bet that you'll not kill a 
bear to-day?" 



i68 THE UPPER YUKON 

"A hundred to one," was the reply. 

''Well, I have here two new clean pillow 
sacks, and I'm taking them along to hold the 
fat from the bear you are to kill this very day." 

Of course I laughed at him, and told him 
he was but "kidding" me. We had looked 
for bear, watched their tracks, and seen 
where they had been feeding for many and 
many a day, yet but two animals of that spe- 
cies had been seen and neither of them gave 
me a chance for a shot. Now why so very 
confident this morning? The only answer 
was the old, old one — "Just you wait and see." 

Our route for the day led up through a 
well-timbered section. On the very top of 
the highest point we passed an Indian grave 
that had been made years and years ago. 
Some trinkets were still adhering to the little 
cabin which covered the dead man's remains : 
a tin cup now rusted with age, an arrow with 
a copper point, an iron knife and some other 
little luxuries to help the dead brave on his 
journey to the land of "The Great Spirit." 

From this modest burial ground our trail 
led down, and ever down, until we came to 
the bottom — a soft and boggy bottom, with 
tall willow bushes to bother us as we forced 
our way through. Then a mile and a half 



"HOW MUCH WILL YOU BET?" 169 

more, and we came in sight of a wide river 
bed, with a stream on our side carrying a rag- 
ing flood of water caused by a recent warm 
spell. There was a strong wind to help the 
current on, while on the far side of the river's 
bed, more than two miles across, still another 
stream equally large and equally swift 
forced its way down, the two streams finally 
enter the Yukon River and in that great riv- 
er's embrace they at last emerge into Behring 
Sea. 

When we came to the edge of the first chan- 
nel, it behooved us to be wary in finding a 
fitting place to cross, as frequently in these 
swift-rushing streams quicksands abound. 
Having picked out a place that seemed all 
right, we slowly entered the water. With 
Charley leading, and Billie and I following, 
we got safely across, but the water having 
surged up around our legs we were just a bit 
wet. 

Where we landed on the opposite shore was 
a little depression with some grass on the bot- 
tom. Here we dismounted, and the Chief, 
using Charley's back as a rest for the glasses, 
commenced to explore the river bed to see if 
any game was in sight. Presently he passed 
the glasses to me and pointed in the direction 



170 THE UPPER YUKON 

of the farther side of the river to a moving 
animal that he took to be a v^^olverine, but 
that I thought wsls a bear. It proved that 
I was right, for it really was a silver-tipped 
grizzly. He was feeding on bear-root or 
wild parsnips. He would stop and dig 
for two or three minutes at a time, pulling 
up the roots with his claws, and then he 
would pass on to another bunch. He was 
perhaps two miles away in a direct line 
and a mile further down stream than we 
were. The wind was blowing crossways. If 
the bear followed his present line of travel, he 
would naturally keep on until he struck the 
river on our side, and swimming across he 
would head for the timber that we had just 
left. This was the Chief's judgment, and he 
was right. If the wind, which was blowing 
very strong, maintained its present course and 
the bear his line of travel, he would strike our 
scent about a hundred yards before he reached 
the river. Our only chance of a successful 
stalk was to work over at right angles to his 
course. So tethering our mounts, we kept a 
sharp watch on the bear's movements. We 
ran when he was digging, and then dropped 
down on all fours while he was walking. 
For three-quarters of an hour we made good 



"HOW MUCH WILL YOU BET?" 171 

progress, then as he came nearer it was neces- 
sary to keep on our knees while he was dig- 
ging, and flat on the ground during his walk- 
ing periods. 

In this way we came to a small stream run- 
ning into the main channel, which was on our 
left. This brook we waded, with the water 
above our knees, and when across it we took 
to crawling on our hands and knees, behind 
the shelter of the slight embankment of the 
river, which consisted of nothing but loose 
stones and gravel. As may be imagined, the 
frail bank frequently broke down with our 
weight, not only making some noise but often 
rolling us into the shallow water at the edge 
of the river. This program was continued 
with as much celerity as we CQuld acquire 
under the peculiar circumstances, the bear in 
the meantime keeping up not only his dig- 
ging, but the straight line of travel on which 
he had started. A slight shift in the wind 
occurred that was bad for us. 

"Now look out," the Chief whispered, 
"he'll get our scent in a few minutes, and at 
once he will rush for the river; we must then 
jump up and run as fast as we can, while he is 
swimming across." 

At this time we were about five hundred 



172 THE UPPER YUKON 

yards away. Not two minutes after the 
Chief's remark we saw that the bear had got- 
ten our scent. Without looking to the right 
or to the left he bolted for the river, and how 
he did get over the ground ! Now we ran as 
fast as we could, and the bear swam, as fast as 
he could. He was not very long in crossing. 
A few seconds before he got to the bank I 
stopped and raised the three-hundred-yard 
sight of the Mannlicher and when he emerged 
from the water I took careful aim at his left 
hip. The bullet struck fair, crushing the hip- 
bone. 

The river bank at this point was four feet 
high, but with the left leg dragging he was 
soon on top of the bank. The next shot also 
hit him, and he at once rose on his hind feet, 
fell over on his back, and rolled again down 
the bank. He turned over, and with his fore 
feet dragged himself up the bank a second 
time, the third shot missing him as he now dis- 
appeared from view. Of course we felt sure 
that he was down for good, but it was necessary 
to travel back to where Billie and Charley 
were tethered (a distance of a mile), mount 
them, swim and ford the river, and then follow 
down, above the bank among the timber, on 
the other side. This took considerable time. 




w 



m 



o 



H 



m..'^y j«5^Vy 



,':^i; 



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"HOW MUCH WILL YOU BET?" 173 

We carefully made our way down stream on 
the other side and soon came to the bear. He 
was prone on the ground, but was still alive, 
and another shot was necessary to finish him. 

The wind had now increased to a gale. 
We took the skin off and found that the 
second bullet had struck him under the spine, 
passing along for nine inches, and then coming 
out through the spine again, so that the spinal 
cord was cut in two places, thus paralyzing 
the hind legs. 

The Chief produced his two clean, white 
bags, and the rich fat on the back and intes- 
tines of the bear filled them as full as they 
would hold. We found that the stomach was 
crammed full of the bear-root, a good bit of it 
being well digested; all in all he was in prime 
condition. 

I was now reminded of my bet of one hun- 
dred to one against my getting a bear, and the 
Chief took much pleasure in "rubbing it in." 

It need not be said that I was much pleased 
with the successful stalk made under such 
peculiar and trying conditions. Fortunately 
I had on the saddle a pair of dry shoes and 
socks, and, the wet ones having been ex- 
changed for these, we made a fire, cooked our 
mate, and ate our lunch with rare appe- 



174 THE UPPER YUKON 

tites. Strapping the two sacks of bear fat 
and the hide and head on Charley, we left the 
scene of action at about three o'clock, having 
been under continuous excitement for four 
hours, from the time the bear was first seen un- 
til the final shot was delivered. In the past 
we have read much of the ferocity of the 
grizzly bear and how he will attack a human 
being on sight. This might have been so in 
the time of the old muzzle-loading rifle, with 
black powder and a copper cap to explode the 
powder with; but now the Ursus Horribilis is 
a wise and cautious fellow. Instinct tells him 
to beware of the repeating rifle and its savage 
and destructive bullet. So at the scent or the 
sight of man he sprints for the tall timber and 
is soon out of sight. 



CHAPTER XIII 

"it never rains but it pours" 

"For raging winds blow up incessant showers, and 
when the rage allays, the rain begins." 

AGAINST the wind, now blowing a gale 
directly in our faces, we led the horse 
and Billie. We were passing through the 
piece of timber described in the chapter re- 
lating of the killing of the bear. We had 
gone perhaps a half mile when, coming to an 
open place, we had an unobstructed view of 
the river bed for a long distance. Some large 
animal of a reddish brown color, which we 
took for a cow, was seen ofif in the distance. 
It was walking in our direction and with the 
wind. It stopped and turned broadside to us 
and then turned completely around. We now 
made it out to be a very large female grizzly 
bear, and she was soon joined by two silver 
tip yearling cubs. 

Having within the hour finished skinning 
one bear, and now seeing three in a bunch, we 
could not help feeling jubilant. We also felt 



176 THE UPPER YUKON 

confident of success in getting the whole three, 
as the wind could not be better. They were, 
like the first bear, feeding on bear-roots. A 
small cove was found near by where we 
tethered our horses so that they would not give 
us any trouble. 

We now got in among small willow brush, 
and away from the river bed. Keeping 
down on our knees we made fair progress 
towards the bears. The yearlings being black 
and the mother a reddish brown, it was the 
easiest thing to keep them well in view, by 
rising occasionally behind a tall willow 
bush. 

When first seen they were fully three miles 
from us, and traveling at about the same speed 
towards us as the first one did which I killed. 

The wind now became erratic, the sky 
grew dark, and it looked as if we were to be af- 
flicted with a crashing thunderstorm. How- 
ever, as quickly as this aerial storm had come, 
did it subside, and we had only a strong wind 
blowing straight down stream. The cubs 
were inclined to be independent in their feed- 
ing, as they fed far afield from each other. 
This propensity of her offspring to "go it on 
their own hook" bothered the old lady bear 
considerably. From what we could see of her 



"IT NEVER RAINS" 177 

actions, she apparently would scold them, and 
then coax them to come nearer to her. On 
the whole, they took their time in search for 
that dainty dish — the bear-root — quite calmly, 
and seemed not to anticipate any danger what- 
ever. 

So we slowly traveled up stream by way of 
the timber land, and they down stream by way 
of the river bottom. We consequently were 
getting nearer and nearer to each other every 
minute. 

But what is that? Something has hap- 
pened. The mother bear has signaled the 
youngsters to come to her. They obey her 
orders, and join her. She leads them to the 
river bank, and there the three stand looking 
across the river, and not down it. Have they 
gotten a whiff of our scent? 

"No," says the Chief; "the wind is all to the 
good. Maybe there's another bear coming up 
behind them." 

We were now not over four hundred yards 
away. As I very much feared a sudden 
change in the wind, which might carry our 
scent to them, my judgment was to try to kill 
or wound one of the yearlings. If that was 
done it would hold the mother and the other 
cub. 



178 THE UPPER YUKON 

The Chief seemed to feel sure that all was 
well, and was confident that I would get the 
whole bunch. Therefore, we kept on crawl- 
ing on all fours. Without any foreknowledge 
we came to a piece of ground where a fire had 
swept it clear both of willow brush and of 
grass. This compelled us to lie down flat and 
pull ourselves along as best we could. This 
bare place was soon crossed and we re-entered 
the willow brush. On looking up now, we 
were astonished to find that the mother bear 
had led the cubs into the edge of the timber, 
where she was standing and looking down our 
way. Here I first became sensible of the fact 
that the wind had changed some, and once 
more my judgment said "shoot at one of the 
cubs." However, the Chief was still optimis- 
tic and satisfied that all was going well. An- 
other fire-cleansed piece of ground confronted 
us, and another bit of crawling had to be 
undertaken. This having been crossed, we 
raised ourselves behind a couple of spruce 
trees and then spied out the land ahead of us. 

Now what do you think we saw? 

Nothing. 

The bears were gone and gone forever. 

Why had they gone? 

Wait. The Chief is climbing a tree and 



"IT NEVER RAINS" 179 

he'll soon locate them. Step by step from one 
branch to another he climbed to the very top 
of a good-sized tree, but no bears were to be 
seen. When he came down he was angry, non- 
plussed and mystified. We hurried along un- 
til we came to their tracks, and one glance at 
those told the whole story, for by the tracks we 
saw where they had started for the tall tim- 
ber with a rush. The wind had undoubtedly 
turned just enough for the keen-scented mother 
bear to detect danger to herself and her off- 
spring, and she had not stood on "the order 
of her going." 

What a sudden transition it was from the 
calm confidence that possessed us of bagging 
the three to the despair of finding them gone! 
Oh, for a bear dog just now to follow their 
trail, and bring them to a halt! He would be 
worth his weight in gold. Such a dog we had, 
but she was in no condition to hunt and there- 
fore had been left to travel with the pack out- 
fit, which was miles away from us at this 
critical time when so much needed. 

There was no need in moralizing; it would 
do no good. 

We went back after Charley and Billie, and 
wended our way to the next camping place, 
which we did not reach until late in the night. 



i8o THE UPPER YUKON 

The Chief was taciturn and reticent all the 
long way to camp. 

"A penny for your thoughts," said I. 

"I have none whatever," he replied. 

I tried to comfort him, but "from thai 
spring where comfort seemed to come, discom- 
fort swells," and he "would none of it." At 
such a time it is best to be left alone. So we 
silently went to supper and as silently crawled 
into our sleeping bags, and slept. On the 
morrow speech came back to him, and he can- 
didly blamed himself for all of our bad for- 
tune. But the incident was now ended, and 
I told him "the less said, the easier mended." 

It's an old adage to "never count your 
chickens until they are hatched." For over 
an hour we had been supremely confident that 
we would return to camp with four bears in 
place of one, and I had imagined how proud I 
would be to lay down on the parlor floor at 
home four bear skins nicely tanned and lined 
and all secured within one afternoon. 



CHAPTER XIV 

NAZARHAT GLACIER 

"On a mountain top where biting cold would never let 
grass grow." 

INDESCRIBABLE with pen and ink or 
with camera are the great glaciers of the 
North Land. When we first crossed the 
divide which parted the watershed on which 
we had been hunting for many days from the 
glacier-fed stream across the range, we stood 
looking away ofif at Nazarhat — Nazarhat the 
glacier, Nazarhat the mysterious, Nazarhat 
the creator of strange superstitions and strange 
terrors among the Indians of the Ashiack 
tribe. 

Our first sight of this notable glacier gave 
us the impression of an enormous deep bowl 
made of solid ice and running water. The 
moraine that was tributary to it was said to be 
seven miles long and from two to three miles 
broad. The dust of ages had settled upon 
this moraine, and vegetation was flourishing 
upon the scanty soil, covering the stately 



i82 THE UPPER YUKON 

masses of shifting ice. Grass was growing 
on many portions of the moraine, a few stunted 
trees on others, and some bunches of willow 
brush waved in the wind on top of the earthy 
covering of the ice field. 

It is a wonderful thought and worth pon- 
dering over to know that a swiftly-running 
river has its birthplace in the secret recesses of 
this mysterious glacier. A lonely sight it is, 
no matter from what angle you view it. 
Nazarhat is like the other glaciers in this 
country. It is dying, not slowly like the ma- 
jority of glaciers in Switzerland, but with a 
seemingly constantly accelerating melting of 
the ice and with the breaking off of large 
sheets of the frozen liquid. I gazed upon this 
natural wonder until the Chief became rest- 
less; he wanted to get to work; he never had 
much time for sight-seeing. I may as well say 
right here, as in some other portion of my 
narrative, that in all of my experience with 
guides and other husky, virile men who have 
been with me who were not guides, his equal 
for strength, quickness of decision, and an al- 
most raving desire for hard work, I have never 
seen. He was indeed a born leader. His 
eight years' experience as a member of the 
famous Northwest Mounted Police had 



NAZARHAT GLACIER 183 

given him self-reliance, and the ability to do 
big things with comparative ease that other 
men would falter at. No need was there ever 
to spur him on to work. I pity the man who 
might hire his services and then prove to be 
lazy and indifferent as to whether he hunted 
or not, and who would decline to go anywhere 
that would mean hard climbing or other 
rugged work. The Chief might give him a 
lecture that he would never forget. 

It is a comfort to hunt with a man who not 
only knows the ground but is familiar with 
every card and trick that can be played in 
hunting the different species of big game that 
make this country a unique hunting ground. 

Still speaking of glaciers, we must not for- 
get mentioning the ScoUi Glacier which takes 
several days to cross with a pack outfit. 
Steps must be cut in the ice to enable the 
pack horses and men to reach the top. It is 
six miles wide. Crevasses are to be found 
almost everywhere on its surface, and there- 
fore extreme caution is necessary in crossing 
it. Season before last three men were pass- 
ing over it, when one of them slipped and fell 
a considerable distance into a crevasse. His 
companions managed to get a rope with a 
noose on one end down to him, and he sue- 



i84 THE UPPER YUKON 

ceeded in getting the noose around his body. 
The men above pulled and hauled, but the 
man was so securely lodged in among the ice 
sheets, that he would have been pulled in two 
if they had continued their exertions. They 
lowered food to him, and talked with him, as 
he could easily hear them. From below he 
told the men above to write down his last will 
and testament, and thus he advised them what 
to do for his wife and children and how cer- 
tain matters had to be adjusted. On the sec- 
ond day of his imprisonment his voice gradu- 
ally became weaker and the last thing he said 
was that he was "about done for," as he knew 
that he was practically frozen through. He 
is undoubtedly still lying in his lonely ice 
grave, and his body may never be seen again, 
as the Scolli Glacier is so far away from civi- 
lization that but comparatively few people 
cross it in a year's time. 

The Slims Glacier, in whose icy depths the 
Slims River and the O'Connor River both 
have their source, is also charged with being 
the cause of a human tragedy. 

Two years ago a young man on hunting 
bent visited this weird region. He was in pur- 
suit of wild goats and had climbed to the roof 
of the glacier, and from there still higher to 



NAZARHAT GLACIER 185 

a high mountain on the left. He was rather 
careless of where he walked. A dense fog 
"as black as Acheron" enveloped the moun- 
tain of ice, and the man paid no heed to the 
warnings given him by his guide to stay in 
one place while the fog lasted. He strolled 
on leisurely, and, all unconscious of impend- 
ing danger, and without any knowledge of 
where he was going, he stepped over the brink 
of the mountain top and at once disappeared 
in the gloom of the fog. This was in the be- 
ginning of October, and his body was not dis- 
covered until the ensuing July. Upon his per- 
son was found a paid-up insurance policy for 
$20,000 in favor of his sister. By this means 
his identity was established. The natives, in 
talking about this catastrophe afterwards, de- 
plored the fact that his rifle when found "was 
all broke to pieces." There was but little sor- 
row for the man, but much for the broken 
rifle. 

I have already said the Chief was impa- 
tient to go on, so he led the way down to the 
bottom where we saw many caribou trails and 
in the distance several caribou, mostly cows or 
spike horns. 

We also came to a small moose lake where 
two moose cows and a calf were quietly feed- 



i86 THE UPPER YUKON 

ing on lily pads in the water. Then we spied 
a good-sized bull caribou lying down in some 
long grass. We rode fast and very near to 
him. "Ain't you going to shoot?" asked the 
Chief. 

"No, he's not big enough," I said, and rode 
on past him. He then arose from his grassy 
bed and bounded away out of danger. 

Crossing the river bed and the main stream 
on the far side, we went close to the Nazarhat 
moraine, climbing up from the bottom to an 
elevation where we might search the whole 
landscape with the glasses. 

Nothing was seen until late in the afternoon, 
when as we were turning around the base of 
a pinnacle, we suddenly saw a very fine bull 
accompanied by only one cow. He looked 
around and saw us, but before he could make 
a bolt out of range of the rifle, I had him 
sighted and quickly fired the bullet. It struck 
him behind the shoulder and down he went. 
This one was a fine specimen and very fat, 
as the mating season had then not yet com- 
menced. It would be hard to find a fatter 
animal of any species than he was. When he 
was skinned ready for the pack horse and some 
of the fat was stowed away in the saddle bag, 
we commenced our return journey. The way 



NAZARHAT GLACIER 187 

was long, and before we had climbed to the 
top of the divide, darkness set in. Giving up 
the guidance of the party to Billie, he led us 
down in safety past the soft places, where mus- 
keag ground had to be looked out for, and 
avoided, then through a large stretch of tim- 
ber to the river bank. This bank was high 
and precipitous, but Billie led the way to a 
trail down which we went to the bottom. The 
river was high and swift, yet without the 
slightest hesitation Billie waded into the 
stream, and, exercising his usual caution and 
good judgment, he worked his way across to 
the other side and brought us finally to the 
camp at half-past eleven at night. Of course 
all were asleep, but there was a wood fire burn- 
ing and it needed but a few minutes to boil the 
water to make the mate and get a quick sup- 
per; then oft to bed. 



CHAPTER XV 

HOMEWARD BOUND 
"My affairs do even drag me homeward." 

SEPTEMBER was nearly gone. We had 
been successful in bagging game of dif- 
ferent kinds: — moose, white sheep, Osborni 
caribou, grizzly bears, Arctic hares, various 
species of wild ducks, grouse, pintailed prairie 
chickens, and a few fat gophers by way of a 
change. 

The time had arrived for a shift to the 
country where the mountain goat was said to 
abound. The pack horses were loaded to 
their limit with horns, antlers, scalps and 
hides, together with our personal outfits. The 
pack train was set in motion and we were now 
homeward bound. 

On the return trip, for a portion of the way 
a different route was taken than that we came 
in by. Following a creek containing many 
large boulders, which in several places di- 
verted its course, we found on its rocky banks 
an unusual amount of volcanic ash deposit. 



HOMEWARD BOUND 189 

According to Dr. George M. Dawson, the 
geologist: "This ash deposit appears to be 
entirely due to a single period of eruption. 
It is homogeneous in character wherever seen, 
forming a single layer not divided by interca- 
lations of other material, and has been spread 
everywhere in the entire area characterized by 
it. It is much more recent in date than the 
white silt deposits which are the last of those 
properly referable to the glacial series, having 
been deposited after the river valleys were ex- 
cavated in the glacial materials, and at a time 
when the rivers had cut down nearly quite to 
their present levels — a fact rendered evident, 
by the circumstance that it overlies the depos- 
its of river and valley — gravels and sands in 
all cases, except in those low river flats where 
these deposits sometimes cover it a depth of 
several feet. In most places it is overlain 
merely by the surface soil with a depth of six 
inches to two feet, and in a few instances it 
was noted as constituting the actual surface 
of terrace of moderate height, the present for- 
est being rooted in it. The ash appears to 
have fallen tranquilly, much in the manner of 
snow deposited from a calm atmosphere. The 
examination of scraped banks along the two 
rivers (the Pelly and the Yukon) showed it 



I90 THE UPPER YUKON 

to occur near the surface of terraces about 200 
feet in height, as well as on lower terraces and 
river flats down to within about ten feet of the 
actual river level in August and September. 
It was also detected in some places on the slop- 
ing fronts of terraces. 

"The thickness of the layer was no doubt 
originally pretty uniform, and it still retains 
this uniformity where it rests upon wide flat 
terraces. Its average normal thickness for 
the Pelly, as a whole, was estimated at about 
five inches, but this is somewhat exceeded 
along the part of the river immediately above 
the MacMillan River. On the Lewis (the 
Yukon) below Rink Rapid its normal thick- 
ness is about a foot, but above this point it be- 
comes much less, and where last seen, at Cari- 
bou Crossing, is not over a half-inch thick and 
only to be recognized when carefully looked 
for." 

Dr. Dawson is of the opinion that this vol- 
canic eruption probably came from "Mount 
Wrangell, as it is the nearest known volcano," 
and that the extent of the eruption covered a 
radius of possibly 25,000 miles. As to its 
probable date, he says : "The rivers have not 
certainly cut their beds perceptibly deeper 
since the deposit occurred on their flood flats, 



HOMEWARD BOUND 191 

so that the period to which it belongs cannot 
be an exceedingly remote one," 

I have quoted thus literally from Dr. Daw- 
son's reports because I am of the opinion that 
it is perhaps because of this eruption of vol- 
canic ash, with its wide-spread deposits, that 
vegetation is so sparse and irregular through- 
out the territory. There is comparatively lit- 
tle timber, and none of the forests seen by us 
showed any extreme age. The willow brush 
and alders are plentiful in many districts, and 
Jack pines in others, with moderate growths 
of spruce and balsam firs in a few locations. 

When the creek above described had been 
left behind, a day's journey took us to the base 
of a mountain where we rested for the night. 
The next morning the Chief went ahead of the 
outfit to cut out dead-falls on the trail to the 
crest of the mountain. There were many of 
these and at best the trail was awkward and 
hard, the horses frequently loosening or turn- 
ing their packs as they forced their way 
through between the trees. 

By noon we had gotten to the top and 
shortly afterwards the trail led down to a 
canyon. After crossing the stream, an imme- 
diate sharp ascent was before us, which took 
some time and care to surmount. The lunch 



192 THE UPPER YUKON 

was eaten, and our journey over a plateau that 
was everywhere soft and spongy was renewed. 
Nothing of note happened until Billie got into 
a nasty piece of muskeag ground. He be- 
haved very well this time, making but three 
spasmodic jumps to extricate himself, which 
he succeeded in doing, and I also did well in 
not getting thrown. 

That night we pitched tent in a slight snow- 
storm. There was some little wood around, 
which enabled us to build a fire and obtain a 
hot supper. Close to us was a small tent left 
standing, and under its canvas we counted 
nine sheep — rams — which a native had killed 
for his winter's food. Under the game laws 
of Yukon Territory the natives are allowed to 
kill what meat they need for food. 

The distance covered on this day's march 
was but eleven miles at the most; some of 
the men said it was but nine and a half 
miles. 

On the morning of the next day the pack 
train was again started early. More soft, 
spongy ground was encountered and for the 
forenoon's work less than six miles were 
made. At lunch time a dry piece of ground 
with some good grass for the horses was lo- 
cated. The saddles and blankets were re- 



HOMEWARD BOUND 193 

moved, and the horses and Billie were 
tethered. As was my custom when lunch was 
over, I rolled up in one of Billie's blankets 
with the saddle for a pillow, and was soon 
sound asleep. Awaking at the sound of a 
peculiarly strange and rasping voice, I saw a 
smallish man whom I had met and talked with 
on our way into the hunting country. He was 
a miner with a seventh interest in a gold mine 
near by. He was accompanied by three big 
husky dogs who walked around looking for 
a few stray morsels of food left over from 
our lunch. He was about finishing a yarn 
that he was telling to the listening men when 
he suddenly stopped in the middle of his 
story. 

"Say, Tom," he said to the Chief, "isn't that 
Billie the Wild?" 

"Yes, it is; do you know him?" 

"Do I know him? You bet I do. How 
much will you sell him for?" 

"I'll sell him for three hundred dollars." 

"Well, Tom, if I had the money I would 
certainly buy him." 

"Why? You don't want a mule — what 
could you do with him?" 

"I'd do nothing with him, but I would do 
a great many things to him. I would keep 



194 THE UPPER YUKON 

him just long enough to invent the most cruel 
way of killing him, and then make way with 
him. Do you know what he did to me?" 

"No." 

"Well, I'll tell you. — It was in the winter 
time, five years ago, with some two foot of 
snow on the ground, and I was walking into 
White Horse when I met a doctor coming to- 
wards me who had hired a sleigh with Billie 
to pull it, and as he was near his destination 
he asked me if I would drive the mule back 
to the livery stable in White Horse. Of 
course I would, for that was sure a cinch, 
wasn't it? Here was a free ride of fifteen 
miles, from where I was to the stable. The 
doctor got out, and I got in. Billie turned 
the cutter around himself when I told him 
to, and off we went. Say, Tom, but he's a 
good goer! He just made the snow fly in 
clouds as we sped along. We had gone over 
seven miles when all at once a buck Indian 
poked his head out through some willow 
brush. Billie not only scented him but saw 
him. Now all that I know after that can be 
told in a minute. Billie gave a spring, and 
broke one of the traces; he kicked up his heels 
and smashed the front of the cutter, and the 
next I knew I was sailing through the air; 



HOMEWARD BOUND 195 

then all was dark. When I came to, my head 
was cut and bleeding — just see the mark on 
it now — and Billie and the rig was gone. I 
had been thrown head first against a tree. 
The Indian had disappeared too. I bathed 
my head with snow and stopped the bleeding, 
then I trudged along to White Horse. On 
the road I found pieces of the cutter and of 
the harness, and when I got to the stable Bil- 
lie was there eating as calmly as if nothing 
had happened, and all he had brought back 
with him was his collar. Do you wonder 
now why I would kill him?" 

We resumed our journey some little time 
afterwards and I overtook the irate miner 
with his husky dogs. He was carrying a 
small pack, and, as he had come a consider- 
able distance when I caught up with him, I 
asked if he was tired. He acknowledged that 
he was. 

I then invited him to mount Billie, saying 
I would walk. The man was impressed by 
my kindly offer, but he said that it was so 
long since he had been on horseback that it 
would make him sore to ride. He was told 
that Billie was a very easy-going mule, so 
much so that his gait would remind him of 
a rocking chair. 



196 THE UPPER YUKON 

"No," said he, "he rocked me once and he'll 
never get a chance to rock me again." 

He eased himself by using some strong 
"sulphurous" words about the mule, and then 
quietly dropped behind in the procession. 

That evening we reached the foot of the 
lake over which we had such a dangerous pas- 
sage when we were coming in. The wind the 
next morning was blowing a gale down the 
lake. There was no boat to meet us, as we 
had expected. Much time was lost in start- 
ing a man on horseback, to go to the other 
end of the lake to bring the boat down with 
him, and still more time in starting a second 
man off with a bunch of pack horses also to 
go around the lake so as to be waiting for us 
when we finally arrived at the head. 

In the meantime a rusty old shot-gun and 
some cartridges were found in the cabin, and 
I spent several days in bringing down a wel- 
come supply of wild ducks, grouse, and 
prairie chickens. The wild geese had now 
commenced to fly southward, and many large 
flocks passed over us during our enforced 
stay. The pintailed ducks and butterballs 
were also headed in the same direction. 

At the end of a three days' wait the man 
who had gone to the head of the lake for the 







u 



HOMEWARD BOUND 197 

power boat returned with a small sail boat. 
Some one had tampered with the machinery 
of the power boat and it would not go; so he 
had to hire a man who had a sail boat and 
bring him along. The wind was still high, 
and we could not risk the small boat with such 
a big load as we had, therefore another day 
was lost. The following day the wind had 
calmed down enough to permit us to "line" 
the boat down along the shore. In other 
words, one man stayed in the boat to steer 
her, while three men with a long rope on their 
backs walked along the edge of the lake and 
thus towed her. This method was continued 
all the afternoon and a portion of the next 
day. The wind having now gone down, we 
were able to row the boat the balance of the 
distance. We landed about dark on the bank 
of a glacial river, whose great volume of ice- 
cold water emptying directly into the lake is 
solely responsible for that important body of 
water. 

It is best to reserve the description of this 
glacial river for another chapter, as it fully 
deserves a big chapter all to itself. 



CHAPTER XVr 

THE SLIMS GLACIER 
"That pure congealed white, high Taurus' snow." 

OUR tents were pitched near the shore of 
the glacial river. The ground here- 
abouts is soft and mushy. At the bottom of 
this river, as I have previously mentioned, 
quicksand is frequently found, and much care 
is needed in wading horses into or across it. 

A miner, who has a large and most com- 
fortable cabin, lives here. He invited my 
companion and me to sleep in his cabin. As 
we were now so used to tent life we would 
have perhaps preferred the tent to the cabin, 
but his invitation was so earnest and kindly 
that we accepted it. This man was a giant 
in size and in strength. His cabin was clean 
and very orderly. The sides of the cabin 
were graced with twelve large pen and ink 
pictures showing Gibson's best work. He 
had a roomy stove set close to the floor to heat 
the cabin, a cook stove at one end, a couple 
of beds set end to end, some dishes, books, a 



THE SLIMS GLACIER 199 

victrola, and a nice rug to cover the center of 
the floor. 

One of our "wranglers" had to get up very 
early in the morning to hunt up some stray 
horses. Although there were seven of us, not 
one had a watch that was in condition to give 
us the time of day; so our host volunteered to 
wake him at two o'clock. The registering 
thermometer showed that it was 21 degrees 
above zero that night, and promptly to the 
minute the man got out of bed and coolly 
walked out in his bare feet and bare legs, and 
without a night shirt on, to the tent of the 
wrangler and wakened him. The distance he 
had to walk was equal to a city square. Al- 
though there was some little snow on the 
ground, he came back without saying a 
word and got into bed as if he had done noth- 
ing but what was a nightly occurrence with 
him, and he soon fell asleep and all was well. 

This man had four heavy, husky dogs, and 
these he fed with white fish which he caught 
with a net in the lake near by. When the 
weather became cold enough to freeze the lake 
over, he would catch a couple of tons or more 
of these splendid fish and they would make 
food for man and beast during the winter. 
The huskies were used in carrying him on his 



200 THE UPPER YUKON 

sled to his mining camp and back. When he 
wanted to visit White Horse, if the snow was 
good, they would average six miles an hour 
and thus get him there in a couple of days, 
making the round journey in from four to five 
days. 

The morning after our arrival we were still 
minus three horses, and some time was lost 
in finding the bunch they were in, for there 
were many horses there feeding on the grass 
which was abundant and rich. It also took 
considerable time to "cut out" the three from 
the bunch. Having secured the stray horses, 
we followed the course of the glacial river un- 
til we came to the deserted mining village 
spoken of in a previous chapter. Here were 
plenty of well-built and roomy cabins, a road 
house, a large livery stable, a store house, and 
a bake house. The doors to the buildings 
were all open. Any one might take posses- 
sion of one or all of them as he pleased, but, 
alas! there was nothing to warrant any one 
in occupying them. 

The going was nasty, and the horses had to 
pick their way carefully to keep clear of mus- 
keag ground. At noon we stopped for lunch 
on a piece of ground that was fairly firm. A 
fire made with willow brush soon boiled wa- 



THE SLIMS GLACIER 201 

ter enough to make our mate. While eating 
our repast, the Chief saw right back of us on 
a very steep and high mountain a large moun- 
tain goat. He and the writer lost no time in 
undertaking the stalk to get within range of 
the goat. The route led for a distance through 
a piece of timber land, which was well choked 
up with a bountiful mass of dust to a depth 
of a foot. This had been blown through the 
immense gap formed by the dying glacier, 
whose melting ice is the fountain head of the 
river we were following. A quarter of a 
mile of this sort of going brought us out of 
the timber and to the base of the mountain. 
Here the goat could not be seen for obstruc- 
tions in the way. The Chief said that he 
would be watching the horses, and his attention 
would be centered on them, so we need not 
worry about him. We commenced the climb, 
and, when in sight of the prey a fire was built 
to focus his attention upon the smoke and fire 
until I got near enough to shoot. 

The climb then continued. It was with- 
out doubt the hardest piece of climbing of the 
whole trip. A most remarkable thing about 
it was that the goat was directly under the sun 
and without the glasses we could not make 
him out. The route we took was the only one 



202 THE UPPER YUKON 

by which an ascent could be made, but 
we went as far as it was possible for human 
beings to go. Before us was a yawning chasm 
and back of that a sheer wall, and on the peak 
of that was his eminence, the goat. A pecu- 
liar sharp ridge ran across the edge of the 
chasm, and on this we stopped until we could 
breathe freely. The ridge was made up of 
small stones and loose soil. It would not bear 
our weight without straddling it, and as the 
goat was directly above me, and still in the 
sun, I could not see him at all without the 
glasses. Lying partly on my left side with 
one leg hanging over the ridge, I located him 
as well as I could with the glasses and pre- 
pared to shoot. It was guess work at the best, 
and when the shot was fired the bullet went 
at least a foot to the right of him, and in a 
second, as it seemed to us, he disappeared over 
the crest. 

Nothing was to be done now but to get 
down to the bottom again, which we did with 
all the celerity at our command. While we 
had been up the mountain, our pack train had 
passed by the place where Charley and Billie 
were tethered, and as the ground was so very 
treacherous the Chief was anxious to catch up 
to them. We mounted, and away we went on 



THE SLIMS GLACIER 203 

a gallop wherever the ground was hard 
enough to permit us to travel so fast. In an 
hour we came up with the pack. The men 
had not been able to find a path by which 
the horses could safely travel with their loads. 
The Chief took command, and walking his 
horse along the very edge of the river's bank 
he was enabled to clear the very soft places. 
The other horses seeing Charley leading, fol- 
lowed in his tracks, and all went well until 
a place was reached where it was impossible 
to go any farther. Then we were led up into 
the mountain, through the bed of a small 
creek well filled with immense boulders. The 
horses were taken carefully up this creek. 
At the top of it, we turned to the left, and 
followed a trail that ran through a thick 
grove of willow brush. 

It was now dark, and we had our hands 
full in keeping the willows from swiping us 
off our horses. In time the trail led down the 
mountain again, and we came to a good camp- 
ing place. The packs were removed from the 
animals, they were hobbled and let loose, and 
then it was discovered that one of the horses 
with a pack on his back was missing. 

Two men went up the mountain with a lan- 
tern, and later came back saying the horse 



204 THE UPPER YUKON 

could not be found. Then the Chief and an- 
other man went up. At about eleven o'clock 
that night they found the horse on the trail, 
with his pack caught between two trees so that 
he could go neither forward nor backward. 
Some projecting limbs had to be cut off before 
he could be released. He was soon led down 
to the tent, freed of his burden, and sent out 
to feed. 

The following morning, being now in the 
so-called goat country, we were eager for the 
expected excitement of seeing and stalking 
them. A long and careful search at a high 
elevation failed to reveal a single goat, and 
that day was therefore a blank. 

We were now completely out of meat and it 
was necessary for us to procure meat of some 
kind. A little before noon the Chief discov- 
ered five young sheep (rams) feeding low 
down on the side of a mountain. The wind 
was not very good, but by following up the 
near side of a deep canyon, it might be pos- 
sible to get within range of them. This can- 
yon was well filled with large granite boul- 
ders, backed up by sharp-edged stones. 
Many stones were even then sliding down the 
mountain sides, so whatever noise we made in 
climbing over the boulders was more than off- 



THE SLIMS GLACIER 205 

set by the noise of the occasional dropping 
stones. We had over a mile and a half to 
work our way up the canyon before getting 
within range, and for most of the time the 
sheep by reason of their location were invisi- 
ble to us. When at last we neared them we 
came to a place where a long and deep land- 
slide had plunged down into the canyon. 
This we crawled over and climbed around, 
and at its far end we were near enough to 
shoot. As it was meat we wanted, and that 
badly, the Chief used his 30-40 Winchester 
rifle, and the two of us started shooting. With 
the first two bullets two of the rams fell, the 
others running up the side of the mountain 
as fast as if they were traveling on level 
ground. They dodged backwards and for- 
wards, now behind a rock and again above it, 
until another one fell. The ram that was run- 
ning the fastest seemed to bear a charmed life 
for a while, but a bullet from my Mannlicher 
dropped him, and he rolled over, and down 
the side of the mountain. We had gotten 
four out of the five, and we were well satis- 
fied, as we now had enough meat to last us 
until we arrived at White Horse. We 
dressed the sheep, had our lunch, and went 
back for the horses. Strapping the sheep on 



2o6 THE UPPER YUKON 

their backs, we returned to camp, which we 
reached at dark. 

It is now in order to say something about 
the glacier that we were so close to, and in 
which two rivers had their source, the waters 
of one reaching the ocean via the Yukon River 
and Behring Sea, and the other by way of the 
interior waterway in the Pacific Ocean. 

This glacier is really an extension of Mount 
St. Elias, although that famous mountain is 
eighty miles away. Formerly the glacier was 
higher than the mountains surrounding it. 
Now it has shrunken so much by the melting 
of the ice that it makes a deep and broad gap, 
through which the warm south winds rush 
with immense force, carrying clouds of dust, 
which finally settles in the water of the river 
and sinks to the bottom, forming quicksands 
or bars. Some of it is carried by the wind up 
the mountain sides among the timber, and 
along the banks of the stream. The pressure 
of the glacial water is so great that it is forced 
up from the bottom of the glacier like a sy- 
phon. The current of water divides in two, 
and as before stated two rivers are thus 
created. 

Dr. Dawson states that the ice flow, during 
the period of the great Cordillevan Glacier 



THE SLIMS GLACIER 207 

or confluent glacier mass of the west coast, was 
included between the fifty-fifth and the fifty- 
ninth parallels of latitude, and that its well- 
defined movement was from the south to the 
north. Therefore at one time all of this wide 
stretch of country was covered with a moving 
mass of ice, crushing and breaking down 
everything within its path. "While the 
greater part of the area traversed is more or 
less completely mantled with glacial deposits, 
it will be observed that true boulder-clay was 
found in certain parts only of the southern 
and more mountainous portion of the region, 
while it spreads over almost the entire length 
of the upper Pelly and Lewis (Yukon) val- 
leys, though not found exposed quite to their 
confluence." 

Dr. Dawson attributes the presence of both 
the fine and the coarse gold which is found in 
the Yukon basin entirely to the grinding ef- 
fects of this wide-spread glacial action. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE WONDERS OF A NEW LAND 

I HAVE been quoting freely from Dr. 
George M. Dawson, one of the greatest of 
Canadian scientists. He has carefully studied 
the rocks, mountains, glaciers, plateaus, vol- 
canic deposits, fossils, and old lava — flows that 
occur in this comparatively new land passing 
under the name of the Yukon Territory. 

Let me now quote from Rex Beach, the 
novelist, who has spent eleven years in this 
section of the country and has had a wide 
experience there. 

"In one way the southern coast of Alaska 
may be said to be perhaps a million of years 
younger than any other land on this conti- 
nent, for it is still in the glacial period. The 
vast alluvial plains and valleys of the inte- 
rior are rimmed in to the southward, and shut 
off from the Pacific, by a well-nigh impassa- 
ble mountain barrier, the top of which is 
capped with perpetual snow. Its gorges for 
the most part run rivers of ice instead of wa- 



WONDERS OF A NEW LAND 209 

ter. Europe has nothing like these glaciers, 
which overflow the Alaskian valleys, and sub- 
merge the hills, for many of them contain 
more ice than the whole of Switzerland. 
- ''This range is the Andes of the North, and 
it curves westward in a magnificent sweep, 
hugging the shore for a thousand leagues. 
Against it the sea beats stormily; its frozen 
crest is played upon by constant rains and fogs 
and blizzards. But beyond lies a land of sun- 
shine, of long, dry, golden summer days." 

Here we have a description that to my mind 
cannot be excelled. 

On the Coast Range we have rain and rain 
for weeks, with snow, ice, and a host of other 
discomforts. And then sixty to eighty miles 
back of the great Coast Range we find just 
what this noted writer has characterized this 
inland country to be — *'a land of sunshine, of 
long, dry, golden summer days." 

It is in reality a semi-arid country. The 
atmosphere is so dry that you may cache meat 
out in the open in the early fall, and it will 
be good to eat all through the winter; but 
of course it will at that time be frozen. 

Hang your wet clothes outside at night. 
In the morning they are dry. Dust, heaps of 
it, we found along the beds of certain rivers, 



2IO THE UPPER YUKON 

where it had been blown by furious winds, 
sweeping over the glacier. More than eighty 
miles away from this glacier the whirling, 
moving, flying masses of dust darkened the 
sun and made travel tedious and irksome, be- 
sides filling our nostrils, our hair, our clothes, 
and even our foot-gear with it. 

This condition prevails only when the wind 
is due south. In the future, when this par- 
ticular glacier has become entirely extinct, 
the conditions will be very much worse, as 
the gap will be just so much wider and deeper, 
thus allowing so much more air to pass 
through the gigantic funnel. 

What a stunning change has come over this 
region "since the glacial-ice buried the entire 
great valley which separates Vancouver 
Island from the mainland, and discharged 
seaward round both ends of the island." 

Our route was now to follow the river that 
by devious ways works its course to the Pacific 
through the Coast Range of mountains in 
Alaska. 

The scenery along this glacial river was 
such as to be really indescribable. The cliffs 
towering above the river, or above some 
rounded lake through which the stream runs, 
were wonderful in their irregularity. One 



WONDERS OF A NEW LAND 211 

of these small lakes was weirdly beautiful. A 
large mass of clear and transparent ice had 
fallen into it from the glacier. It was 
grounded on the bottom below, with its top 
twenty or more feet above the surface. For 
several miles the bank of the river opposite 
us made a sheer descent — from the ice caps 
above direct to the water. But no one can 
imagine the varied forms, colors, and shades 
that succeeded one another along this change- 
able wall of granite, sandstone, and shale, 
with here and there beds of lignite. 

In one place what appeared to be basaltic 
columns, looking like the front of a cathedral 
tower, astonished us. This was immediately 
followed by a reproduction upon a large scale 
of a mystic House of Parliament. Then 
Turkish Mosques, Kiosks and Minarets came 
into view. Look where we would, the chang- 
ing sunlight upon the mass of variegated rocks 
kept transforming the scene into a kaleido- 
scopic view, brilliant in color and of marvel- 
ous beauty of form. I cannot find words to 
describe the feeling of awe and wonder that 
followed each new scene of splendor. It is 
indeed a fairyland upon a gigantic scale, 
known unfortunately to but a handful of peo- 
ple — maybe less than a hundred. As far as 



212 THE UPPER YUKON 

we know, no artist has seen or sketched it; no 
photographer with proper equipment has ever 
snapped it. Its glories must lie hidden and 
unknown until some wandering Oliver Gold- 
smith or some future Sir Joshua Reynolds 
shall find this treasure trove, and describe it 
in book form or picture it on canvas. 

Finally the river broadened out to a mile 
in width, and the trail led to the other side. 
Willow brush became plentiful. Some dis- 
tance farther on the trail led through a small 
forest of Jack pines. Here were seen many 
bear trails, fresh diggings, and evidences that 
one or more grizzlies had been there that very 
forenoon. The wind being with us would ac- 
count for their disappearance. 

Our two guides had been for many days 
discussing the good points of their horses, 
Charley and Mac. The discussions were 
principally about their speed. Incidentally 
I learned that on this route was a place where 
the river bed for four miles was level enough 
to serve as a place for racing horses, that the 
bottom was fairly clear of gopher holes 
(which are an ever-present danger in any 
horse racing in this section of country), and 
that this would be the place to settle all dis- 
putes about the speed of the two animals. 



WONDERS OF A NEW LAND 213 

We were now jogging along at an easy gait, 
when both guides put the spurs to their horses, 
and not even saying, "Good-bye, we'll see you 
later," away they went. 

Billie threw back his ears, and without any 
waiting or hesitation he started after them. 
Very quickly he settled down to a steady but 
swift gait. He did not seem to exert himself, 
nor did he become excited. Gradually he 
increased his speed, until I stood up in the 
stirrups and held him with a strong grip with 
my left hand. With the right hand I occa- 
sionally gave him a crack with a piece of wil- 
low brush used in place of a whip. We had 
thus gone perhaps a half mile, when Billie 
came up with the runners. Both horses were 
showing nervousness and both were sweating. 
The appearance of the mule alongside spurred 
them to greater exertions than ever, and a new 
spurt was indulged in with Mac in the lead, 
Charley next, and Billie sailing along in the 
rear. It struck me there and then that Bil- 
lie was simply playing with them, — that he 
knew he could outrun them w^henever he 
wanted to; but that if he beat them too easily, 
the race would be over and all of the enjoy- 
ment with it. Indeed, he seemed to enjoy it 
better than either of the two men, who were 



214 THE UPPER YUKON 

now plying their willow whips and shouting 
to their horses with all their might. 

Once more the mule, now still cool and col- 
lected, drew up along side of Charley, who 
was in a lather of sweat, and panting very 
hard. He, being nearer to me, was the only 
one I could take note of, although no doubt 
Mac was in equally as bad a condition. For 
a second time the two horses spurted, and once 
more we went to the rear, Billie cantering eas- 
ily along with his glossy skin free from any 
sign of perspiration. The race having now 
covered over two miles, the horses were show- 
ing distress. Watching them carefully with 
those searching eyes of his, Billie evidently 
made up his mind that the time was ripe to 
show them how quickly he could put them 
"out of the running." I had no need to en- 
courage or shout at him; he let himself out — 
it was just that and nothing more. With a 
stately and dignified pace he drew up to them, 
and easily passing them he sped on ahead, as 
if to show them what a simple thing it was for 
him to run them to a standstill. I was guid- 
ing and holding him with my left hand only, 
and we were at any rate ten yards ahead of the 
horses when Billie stumbled. His left front 
foot had gone down into a gopher hole. For- 



WONDERS OF A NEW LAND 215 

tunately for him and for me too, I had a firm 
hold of the bridle and I thus kept him from 
going down on all fours and myself from go- 
ing over his head. 

This accident put a finish to the race. BIl- 
lie showed no bad effects from it, but for my- 
self I found something was wrong with my 
left side, which gave me considerable pain, 
and it kept getting more painful with each 
recurring day. It was finally discovered that 
the large muscle controlling the three lower 
ribs on my left side had been badly wrenched, 
and I was advised to let it alone, and time 
would bring about relief. This I did, but 
two months elapsed before the pain and sore- 
ness finally disappeared. 

I did not, and do not now, begrudge hav- 
ing had this accident, although it might have 
been very much worse. This, however, I 
may say: I wouldn't have missed this long and 
unique race of a "wild" mule against two good 
horses, even had I known beforehand that the 
accident would happen. 

A good camping place with lots of grass for 
the horses and plenty of wood for the fire was 
found early in the afternoon. The Chief now 
led the way across the river bottom to a moun- 
tain on the right-hand side, back of which 



2i6 THE UPPER YUKON 

a roaring body of water was forcing its way 
through a canyon to the river itself. We had 
to pass through a wide clump of willow brush. 
With our eyes fastened on the mountains 
ahead of us, it was little wonder that, when a 
magnificent black fox jumped up and loped 
away in front of us into another bunch of wil- 
lows, the Chief saw him not at all. While I 
did see him, and that very plainly, I was not 
quick enough with the rifle to get a shot, al- 
though I had already set the trigger and had 
put the rifle to shoulder before he disappeared. 

The Chief asked what I had aimed at, and 
when told of the fox, he seemed to give it little 
credence. But suddenly the fox appeared 
again. For a second he was once more in 
sight, and both rifles were brought to shoul- 
der. Yet again he was too quick for us, al- 
though we had a splendid view of him. His 
skin was jet black, and as glossy as satin. The 
Chief was much disturbed because the fox had 
gotten away, as he said his pelt would easily 
bring sixteen hundred dollars. 

Previous to this I had personally seen three 
silver foxes, two young fellows and one full 
grown, which the Chief said if trapped in the 
late fall would average eight hundred dollars 
apiece. That black fox will have many traps 



WONDERS OF A NEW LAND 217 

set for him in the coming winter that he will 
need to keep a wary eye upon. In order to be 
out of their dangerous clutches he will have 
to use his wonderful scent as well as his keen 
eyesight. The Chief noted his route of travel, 
and he will surely have a line of traps strung 
along his pathway. To catch such a fine spec- 
imen of the Yukon black fox is like finding a 
gold mine, with all the rich gold in sight. 
* What an influence the vagaries of fashion 
have upon the animal world! One year mink 
is in demand and the prices soar, and the mink 
is then searched for and trapped all through 
British Columbia and the Yukon, Siberia and 
Alaska. The next year marten comes into 
vogue with a similar result. Then the lynx, 
the seal, the ermine, the wolverine, the beaver, 
the homely skunk, and even the muskrat each 
in his turn is in demand. Now it is the black 
fox, the silver fox, the blue fox, the red fox, 
and the grey fox. Anything as long as it is 
a fox, is wanted. 

A few years back muskrats were worth only 
from fifteen to twenty cents a skin. They then 
came into fashion, and the price went up. In 
the city of London, Ontario, I heard of a man 
who had bought five thousand of these rather 
common little hides and had paid $1.05 a skin 



2i8 THE UPPER YUKON 

for them. Alas for the purchaser; the fash- 
ions changed, the prices dropped, and good- 
ness knows what he had to sell them for. Per- 
haps the price was once more but fifteen cents 
each. 

The fur trade is always subject to violent 
fluctuations in price, governed by the sales 
from continent to continent. As fashion al- 
ways fixes upon one fur to the exclusion of 
others, upon that caprice alone does the life 
or death of millions of fur-bearing animals 
depend. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

AN INDIAN VILLAGE 

WE followed the glacial river bed for 
thirty-three miles and then overtook a 
four-horse wagon of ours which had gone on 
ahead of us. It was loaded with our spare 
dunnage and the horns, antlers, scalps, and 
hides that we had secured. As I had elected 
to walk most of the distance to White Horse, 
Billie was hitched to the wagon, with Beck, 
the lady mule, as companion, and two of our 
saddle horses as leaders. 

It rained the night that we came up with 
our outfit, and that was only the second rain 
of the whole trip. Two snow storms and two 
gentle rains during the entire sixty-nine days 
in the hunting field — no one could ask for bet- 
ter weather. 

Our next day's trek brought us to an Indian 
village, where most of the inhabitants were 
away on a hunting trip. One old squaw with 
tousled hair and grimy face showing the rav- 
ages of disease — a veritable old hag — ac- 



220 THE UPPER YUKON 

costed us as we proceeded to unhitch the 
horses. She had with her a fierce Indian dog, 
and the wolf-dog that had followed us all of 
the trip and this Indian dog could not agree. 
She was asked in the Indian tongue by one 
of our men to go into her cabin and take her 
dog with her. This stirred up her anger, and 
she gave us such an outburst of talk as none 
of us had ever before heard. We had the car- 
cases of three young rams on the wagon and 
the following morning the largest of the three 
was found on the ground with nearly half of 
it eaten. It was at first thought that the In- 
dian dog had climbed upon the wagon and 
pulled the carcase off, but I imagine the old 
hag had done the climbing and the dragging, 
and after helping herself first, had then left 
the dog to get his share. 

In the year 1892 I was with a trans-conti- 
nental hunting party. We had a car built on 
the lines of a Pullman sleeper, in which we 
ate and slept. We stopped at different places 
where the hunting was good, and our car 
would be switched on to a siding. We spent 
a week in a reservation of the Cree tribe of 
Indians away out in the flat prairies of Al- 
berta Territory. We had been successful 
with our hunt. We had a large number of 



AN INDIAN VILLAGE 221 

wild ducks, mostly mallards, hung along one 
side of the roof of the car. The other side 
was hung with prairie chickens, while from 
the rear end of the car were suspended thir- 
teen antelopes. 

The white tepees of the tribe dotted the 
prairies for a radius of several miles, and my 
son and I spent considerable time in wander- 
ing among these aborigines. We treated 
them courteously and did not attempt at all 
to pry into their domestic affairs, but walked 
along as if we were on business bent. We had 
learned from the man who was the station 
master, operator, ticket agent, and jack-of-all- 
trades for the railroad company, that some 
persons who had intruded into some of the 
tepees had been rudely handled. The Indi- 
an's tent is his castle, just as the white man's 
house is his. Occasionally a buck would stop 
and speak a few words with us and then go 
his way. 

We had a baggage car with us and in it 
we carried several hunting dogs. Two of 
these were left outside at night to give warn- 
ing if any one should come near either of the 
cars to steal the game. As the Indians seemed 
to pay no attention whatever to our stores of 
venison and wild birds, our vigilance was re- 



222 THE UPPER YUKON 

laxed for one night. The following morning 
we discovered that the Indians had stolen 
seven antelopes out of the thirteen, and all of 
the wild ducks were taken, while the prairie 
chickens had not been touched. The reason 
for the chickens being unmolested was that 
the braves could easily secure these for them- 
selves as they rode over the prairies, while no 
wild ducks were to be found nearer than 
twenty miles away. After this wholesale 
theft the dogs were kept on the watch every 
night. 

It will be remembered that in a former 
chapter describing our "going in," I said we 
passed through an Indian village where all 
of the tribe but the old chief and his wife had 
left for a moose hunt. After breakfast the 
morning that we discovered the loss of the 
ram, my companion and I walked on ahead of 
the wagon in order to stop at that same vil- 
lage to see what the Indians might have for 
sale in the way of furs. 

The members of the tribe were all there, 
getting ready for the opening of the trapping 
season. The village was bustling with activ- 
ity, as much as Indians can bustle. I went 
into a trading store, and met a white man 
from New York state who had settled there. 



AN INDIAN VILLAGE 223 

He had married a handsome young squaw. 
Her three children — two boys and a girl — 
were healthy looking and apparently very 
happy. The morning was quite cold, the 
glass registering about twenty-two degrees, 
yet the youngsters had no hats on, and their 
clothing was very light. Their cheeks were 
rosy, their hair was nicely combed, and their 
faces were clean. I asked their father — the 
trader — if he had any "whistler" skins (skins 
of the whistling marmot). "No," he replied, 
"but I'll send my boy over to an Indian who 
has eighteen good ones that he'll sell." He 
spoke to the boy and off the lad went on the 
run. He came back with one skin, the price 
being a dollar. As this was twice what I was 
told they were worth, I took but the one to 
bring home as a sample, and then bought some 
articles of Indian manufacture as curios. 

While paying for these purchases a loud 
shouting was heard, and on looking out I saw 
our wagon team of two mules and two horses 
dashing away in spite of the driver's efforts 
to hold them. The team was going up hill 
and the stiff ascent soon calmed them down. 
Running up to the wagon we found that a 
young Indian had come alongside of Billie 
to speak to the driver, and at once the noble 



224 THE UPPER YUKON 

mule had become panic-stricken, and had 
tried to jump over Beck's back, causing all 
the horses to become frightened. This was 
the only incident in the whole of our home 
journey where Billie lost his equilibrium. 

The village we had stopped at is quite a fur 
emporium, the surrounding territory being 
considered an excellent trapping district. As 
far as we could learn, the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany had never reached out into this far- 
western portion of the Upper Yukon, although 
they did have a fort on the head waters of 
the Yukon River itself. 

An eloquent writer, Agnes Dean Cameron, 
has graphically pictured the usual starting 
scenes of the trappers for their winter's work: 

"All through the Canadian north the Yukon 
rush of ten years ago has left an aftermath of 
derelicts, human boulder-drifts from the 
world's four corners, who, failing to find a 
fortune in gold, now tread the silent places 
seeking a bare living from the trade in 
peltries. The Indian hunters belong to many 
tribes, Crees, Chipewyans, Dog-Ribs, Yellow- 
Knives, Slavis, Beavers, and Loucheux. They 
all trap and trade. 

"In the ranks of the trappers one comes 
across strange workers. On the shores of the 



AN INDIAN VILLAGE 225 

Lesser Slave you stumble upon a London 
University graduate, who finds the search for 
fur more fascinating than integral calculus 
or conic sections. 

"It is becoming usual among hunters and 
trappers to specialize, as doctors do, and so 
one hunter, bearwise, bends all his energies 
towards bearskins; another studies foxes to 
their downfall; a third hunts moose alone, 
that big-nosed Hebrew of the woods. Here 
as elsewhere the man who mixes brain with 
his bait, and makes a scientific art of a rude 
craft is the man who succeeds. His trapping 
is the highest product of nemoral science and 
not the cometary career of luck of the rule- 
of-thumb trapper. It is a contest of wits 
worthy the cleverest. The furbearers, as the 
years pass, become more, rather than less 
wary, and the days of the magenta string tying 
a chunk of fat to a nice new shiny trap are 
long past. The man who used to 'make 
fur' in that way is, like Fenimore Cooper's 
Indian, the extinct product of a past race that 
never existed. 

"The Canadian trapper eats or dries every 
ounce of flesh he traps, from the scant flesh- 
covering of the skull to the feet and the en- 
trails. As soon as the skins of bear and mus- 



226 THE UPPER YUKON 

quash are removed, the bodies — so many 
skinned cats — are impaled on a stick of Jack 
pine and set sizzling before the fire. 

''In the fur-land when the leaves fall, the 
beaver, giving over his daub-work and wattles, 
sets the family to work storing up the winter 
groceries. There is the challenge of frost in 
the air and the southward flight of birds. 
Some old primal instinct stirs the blood of the 
trapper; he hears the north a-callin', it is time 
to go. The factor of the Hudson's Bay fort 
gaily farewells him, glad to have him go; the 
priest, the old men of the lodges and the blind 
*old wives,' little kiddies and lean, snapping 
dogs come out to bid him God-speed. Leaves 
will be budding on the birches when he re- 
turns. The curtain of silence cuts him off 
from the fellowship of the fort for many 
moons, once he lifts the curtain of that ghostly 
woodland. It is paddle and portage for days 
and weary weeks, inland and ever inland; 
then the frost crisps into silence, the running 
water and the lake lip. The grind of form- 
ing ice warns our trapper it is time to change 
birchbark for moccasin and snowshoe. The 
canoe is cached and the trail strikes into the 
banksian pine and birch woods. 

"The door of the forest is lonely and eerie. 



AN INDIAN VILLAGE 227 

It no longer seems incongruous that, although 
Pierre wears a scapular on his burnt-umber 
breast and carries with him on his journey the 
blessing of the good Father, he also murmurs 
the hunting incantation of the Chipewyans 
and hangs the finest furs of his traps flapping 
in the tops of the pines — a superstitious sop to 
the Cerberus of the woodland Wentigo. 

"If the trapper is married — and most of 
them are much-married — his spouse and 
dusky brood accompany him into the woods 
and frozen winter sees nomad families, each 
little group a vignette in the heart of the wider 
panorama, flitting over lake surfaces to their 
individual fur-preserves. In the woods, in 
tepee, tent, or rough shack the family fires 
are lighted, and from this center the trap- 
per radiates. The hunter traps for miles and 
days alone, and an accident in the woods 
means a death as lonely and agonizing, as that 
of the animal he snares. Sometimes he goes 
insane and then the Royal Northwest 
Mounted Policeman, another sentinel of si- 
lence, handcuffs him, saves him from himself, 
and takes him 'outside.' 

"Possibly the trapper places 150 snares, 
and his line of traps may extend for 30 or 40 
miles. Ere first snow flies he has all his traps 



228 THE UPPER YUKON 

ready waiting for the tell-tale tracks in the 
snow, which shall point out to him each coign 
of vantage for the placing of a cunning lure. 

''With blanket, bait and bacon on a hand- 
sled, silently he trudges forward. The north- 
ern lights come down o' nights and it is cold, 
but cold makes finer fur. Down far trails in 
gloomy forests, across the breast of silenced 
streams, he trudges from trap to trap. If he 
finds $50 worth of fur along the whole line of 
traps he is content. It is not this lonely man 
who gets the high price, madame, for your 
opera cloak of ermine. 

"When Pierre is not 'making fur' or making 
love, he is eating. On the trail he may go 
hungry for two days with no word of com- 
plaint, just a tightening of the lips and of 
L'Assumption belt, and a firm set to the jaw 
but while the moose lasts, life is one long 
supper. 

"Meat (pronounced throughout the north 
'mit') is the great staple in the land of fur. 
On the trail one finds one's self assimilating 
helpings of 'deer mit,' and greedily gulping 
chunks of fat; the rations of the trapper would 
be the despair of Dickens' Miss Todgers, who 
could never bring the supply of gravy up to 
the demand. In the old days the H. B. Com- 



AN INDIAN VILLAGE 229 

pany allowed its men en-voyage five pounds 
of meat a day, while the kiddies were entitled 
to three pounds each from the community 
larder. In British Columbia and the Yukon 
the allowance was one salmon; on the Atha- 
basca one wild goose or three whitefish; and 
up on the Arctic foreshore, two fish and three 
pounds of reindeer meat This was the sched- 
uled fare, but the grimness of the joke ap- 
pears in the fact that the man had to run his 
breakfast to earth before he had it. 

''During the last five years, furs the world 
over have been increasingly fashionable, with 
a corresponding advance in prices. To this 
end no one cause has contributed so strongly 
as the automobile. The quick, exhilarating 
motion makes necessary warm clothing of 
compact texture. This is a self-evident truth. 

"Should the most valuable fox that runs be 
called a black fox of a silver fox? What is 
the highest price ever paid for a single fox 
skin? Don't try to get to the bottom of these 
innocent looking demands. That way mad- 
ness lies. How old is Ann? pales before this. 

"Canadian foxes present themselves patri- 
otically in red, white and blue; there are also 
black foxes and silver ones. The white and 
blue phases of the Arctic fox (eanis lagapus) 



230 THE UPPER YUKON 

are the winter dress of different animals not 
winter and summer coats of the same animal. 
In 1 891 nine thousand white foxskins were 
sent to London by the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany. The white fox is found as far north as 
any animal life." 

This tribe of Indians whose village we 
passed through twice, bear a striking likeness 
to the Japanese, so much so that it is some- 
times difficult to differentiate between a Japa- 
nese immigrant and a native of this tribe. 
Learned ethnologists believe that in the re- 
mote past at least some of the Indian tribes 
of the Yukon came from Japan by way of Si- 
beria, crossing Behring Sea on the ice and set- 
tling there to hunt and fish. 

They have traditions that seem analogous 
to those that pertain to the Jewish race. They 
have one well-defined tradition of the flood 
which is well worth deep and earnest consid- 
eration. This is the story as given by an In- 
dian woman, the wife of our Chief, who 
claims that it has come down from generation 
to generation among her own people. 

*'In the Yukon there were twelve large 
mountains that carried their peaks up to the 
very sky; one of them is even now called Jubi- 
lee Mountain. It is located near the center 



AN INDIAN VILLAGE 231 

of the space in which the other eleven are 
located. This towers above all the rest so 
that from its crest nearly all the wilderness 
world can be seen. Many ages ago a medi- 
cine man warned the people of our tribe that 
big rains would come and fill all the valleys. 
These big waters from the sky were to get 
deeper every day because the rain would not 
stop coming down, until forty days and nights 
had passed away. The medicine man said 
every brave, every squaw, and every boy and 
girl should climb to the top of the great moun- 
tain and take plenty blankets and meat along, 
and after the ground had been watered forty 
days the water would commence to go to its 
own home — the place of the big waters. 

"This word was passed to all our people, 
and most of them obeyed the medicine man's 
commands. Soon were seen families of In- 
dians coming from all over the country. They 
were told to bring their blankets which were 
to keep them warm and shed the rain from 
them during the forty days' downpour. 

"They were warned not to kill any game 
animals but to help to drive as many as they 
could to the summit of Jubilee Mountain, so 
that when the rush of waters was over there 
would be enough animals left to take the 



232 THE UPPER YUKON 

places of those that would be drowned. Then 
they were commanded to build a great raft 
and as the waters arose and drowned the ani- 
mals who could not reach the mountain in time 
to escape, they should drag the animals on to 
the raft and use them for food. Under pain 
of death no Indian was to kill any animal 
whatsoever, but they should use every means 
to save them. 

"A large number of the natives obeyed the 
medicine man's instructions, and succeeded in 
reaching the summit of the mountain, but very 
many laughed at our people whom they called 
silly old women to believe in such a tale. 

"But the rain came, even before the great 
raft was finished, and it took many days be- 
fore it was all put together so that it would 
float. Then all kinds of birds and animals, 
the caribou, the moose, the mountain sheep, 
the goat, the fox, wolf, wolverine, bear, skunk, 
lynx, coyote, squirrel, gopher, whistling mar- 
mot, besides crawling insects of every kind, as 
well as those that could fly, commenced to run 
before the big waters. They were driven and 
helped up the sides of the mountain by our 
people, but those that were too far away to be 
saved were drowned. Their bodies were 
caught as they floated around, and put on the 



AN INDIAN VILLAGE 233 

raft and were used as food for all die people, 
and also for those animals, birds, and insects 
that had obeyed the medicine man's command. 

"When the forty days had expired the rain 
stopped, the waters gradually ran away, and 
the animals which had lived in harmony with 
each other on the great mountain came down 
and departed to their various homes and feed- 
ing grounds." 

The woman who gave us this version of a 
widely disseminated tradition of her race, also 
stated that when she was eight years old, her 
father made a pilgrimage to Jubilee Moun- 
tain, taking her with him. The great raft was 
then resting upon the crest, but covered over 
with thick ice, and very deep snow. It is said 
that traditions of the flood are to be found in 
the annals of many of the ancient Eastern 
countries, but this is the first that I have ever 
heard of an Indian tradition of the flood and 
it Is just possible therefore that this one is of 
Japanese origin. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE RETURN TO WHITE HORSE 

"Hence! Home, you idle creatures, get you home. Is 
this a holiday?" 

THE return journey had been an enjoy- 
able one as the weather was cool and 
pleasant; and being hardened by our ex- 
posure to the elements we did not mind the 
few cold nights or the occasional high winds. 
For my part, while I rejoiced to be within 
telegraphic reach of home once more, yet I 
felt reluctant at leaving a region that above 
all other countries that I have ever been in 
seemed most like a fairy land. Whether it 
was the exhilarating influence of the pure air, 
the glorious scenery, the continual daily 
changes of hunting grounds with the attend- 
ant excitements of the hunt, or the exuberant 
health which I had enjoyed, I know not; but 
I really felt deep regret when we finally 
pulled into White Horse at about four o'clock 
in the afternoon of the fourteenth of Octo- 
ber. 



RETURN TO WHITE HORSE 235 

I could not think of parting with Billie 
without emotion. The next morning after 
our arrival at White Horse I went to the sta- 
ble where he was quietly eating his breakfast, 
and called to him. As soon as I entered he 
at once turned his head and I patted him on 
his forehead and put my arm around his neck 
while he rubbed his nose against my hand. I 
'really cannot explain how the thought origi- 
nated, but I felt he realized that we were to 
part forever. 

Amid the rush and bustle of the following 
morning when we were trying to get things 
in shape to leave, I again opened the stable 
door and greeted him with a "Hello, Billie." 
How his glorious eyes did shine as he gave 
me a morning welcome I I spent with him alL 
the precious minutes that could be spared, and 
walked away from him backwards so that he 
could see me and I him until a corner had to 
be turned and he was out of sight. 

He had carried me on his back at least a 
thousand miles. He had jumped across 
chasms that most horses would not dream of 
taking. He had forded many streams with 
me on his back, had several times slid down 
steep declines with all his feet bunched to- 
gether, and had safely carried me up moun- 



236 THE UPPER YUKON 

tain sides that seemed impossible of ascent. 

Once we were working down tlie side of a 
rocky mountain in order to cross to another 
one equally rough, when we came to a deep 
chasm with a little stream of water running 
through it away down below. To me it 
looked an easy jump for Billie. He, however, 
looked at the other side, and evidently made 
up his mind that the landing was bad. He 
turned abruptly around, and felt his way still 
further down that side. Then he stopped, 
looked at the far side, and perhaps noted a 
flat place where he could land in safety, for 
without any ado he gathered himself together 
and made the jump as easily as a bob-cat or a 
lynx could have done. Then without urg- 
ing he commenced to climb the other moun- 
tain as if he knew just what was wanted of 
him. 

On another occasion we suddenly came to a 
small brook running through a deep ravine 
with a heavy growth of willow brush on each 
side. He pushed through the willows and 
when he jumped he threw his head as far back 
as possible so that the willows would not strike 
his eyes. 

To me he was always gentle and always 
ready for his work. One day while stalking 




u 



RETURN TO WHITE HORSE 237 

a mountain ram, I had to leave him, so I 
pulled the bridle over his head and left him 
standing loose. We were gone over three 
hours before we came back, and on our re- 
turn he was standing where I had left him — 
he had not moved a step. 

Every morning when the horses would be 
brought to the camp from their feeding 
ground during the night, I would give him 
some pancakes that I had saved or a couple 
of mutton chops, which he always ate with 
relish, crunching the bones and swallowing 
them as well as the meat. Sometimes I would 
give him the half of a ptarmigan and to him 
that was a delightful morsel. When the fif- 
teen head of horses would be seen coming, I 
would call out, "Billie; here Billie," and he 
would lose no time in running ahead for his 
pancakes. 

I do not expect ever to meet with his equal 
again. In time I will no doubt gradually for- 
get the many exciting stalks, the interest of 
the hunt itself, and the bringing to camp of 
the game, but never as long as life shall last 
will I forget Billie. 

It will be remembered that we arrived at 
White Horse going "in" on the evening of 
the fourteenth of August. When we came 



238 THE UPPER YUKON 

"out" we arrived back on the evening of the 
fourteenth of October. We had time to 
change our clothes and get a good wash before 
supper was announced at the hotel. We had 
been accompanied back by our Chief, the sec- 
ond guide, the cook, and his brother the wran- 
gler. The Chief and Guide Number Two 
took their meals at our caravansary, and we 
had an opportunity to note what appetites 
these frontiersmen can cultivate when they 
reach civilization. It may seem an incredible 
story that I have to tell, but it is true. When 
our Chief sat down to his first meal, which 
was supper, he ordered two dozen raw eggs, 
and after he had stowed these away in the ca- 
pacious folds of his stomach he ordered his 
regular supper. The next morning his first 
order was three dozen of fried eggs, fried six 
at a time, and then came his regular break- 
fast. We were told that eggs were worth one 
dollar and fifty cents per dozen and it is to 
be presumed that the balance of the food or- 
dered would be equally high, so it can be easily 
seen that the high cost of living had no terrors 
for the Chief. 

The next day was devoted to getting things 
shaped up so as to leave the following morn- 
ing on the train for Skagway. Our licenses 



RETURN TO WHITE HORSE 239 

had to be inspected and endorsed. Crates had 
to be made in which to ship the horns, antlers, 
scalps, and hides. This took a carpenter all 
of the afternoon and night, and he was still 
working when the sun arose on the morning 
of the sixteenth. We settled our bill with the 
men and with the outfitters who had attended 
to our supplies. It is but right to say that 
everything the merchants furnished was of ex- 
cellent quality and the prices were very rea- 
sonable considering the high rate of freight 
which obtains for all classes of merchandise 
carried over the White Horse Pass Railroad. 

When you know that the lowest rate for 
such things as potatoes, flour, salt, pork, sugar, 
etc., is 4^4 cents per pound for the haul of 
one hundred and ten miles, you do not wonder 
at paying five dollars a bushel for potatoes 
and two dollars a gallon for gasoline a hun- 
dred and fifty miles in the interior. 

A few prices which we paid for supplies 
may prove interesting: 

450 lbs. Flour $20.25 

250 lbs. Sugar 25.00 

200 lbs. Salt 12.00 

50 lbs. Beans 6.00 

58 lbs. Canned Butter 3i-90 

3 cans Dehydrated Potatoes i3-50 



240 THE UPPER YUKON 

20 lbs. Lard $ 4.60 

48 lbs. Bacon 1345 

2 gals. Syrup 3.00 

2 Cases Cream 14.00 

1 Case Milk 8.25 

3 lbs. Pepper 1.95 

20 lbs. Coffee 9.50 

5 lbs. Cocoa . . . ., 5.00 

6 doz. Baker's Eggs 7.80 

2 Cans Dehydrated Raspberries 13.00 

I Case Canned Tomatoes 6.50 

ID lbs. Evap. Apricots 2.50 

40 lbs. Onions 4.00 

100 lbs. Potatoes 7.00 

40 lbs. Sugar 4.00 

I Case Eggs 14.00 

The bill for all the supplies amounted to 
$378.65. In addition to this, one thousand 
nine hundred and seventy-three pounds of sup- 
plies had been sent in ahead of us in July. The 
hauling of this lot by wagon and pack-horses 
at 10 cents per pound amounted to $197.30, 
making the item of food supplied $575-95, 
which is a modest amount considering the 
high railroad rates and the fact that the qual- 
ity of every single item was really first-class. 
The packing was so deftly and firmly done 
that there was practically no breakage. 

I know not whether every one is treated as 
well as we were in White Horse. The chief 



RETURN TO WHITE HORSE 241 

of the Customs Department, the hotel people, 
the cashier of the Bank of Commerce — who 
cashed our checks for several thousand dol- 
lars — and the lady in the post-office all treated 
us most courteously and kindly. 

The morning that we left we went to the 
post-office to see if there was any mail. There 
was not. We had received a large bundle of 
letters and papers when we arrived in White 
Horse two days before, so were not much dis- 
appointed. 

The crates were not finished until nearly 
nine o'clock, and the train was to start at 9.30. 
There was much hurrying to and fro. A con- 
sul had to be seen, many papers had to be 
signed, and during all this bustle I noticed the 
young postmistress in the station standing pa- 
tiently, apparently waiting a chance to speak 
to me. So when I had an opportunity I went 
over to her. Two letters had turned up since 
I had been in the post-office, and she had put 
herself to the trouble of bringing them to me. 
As each missive was from a member of my 
family at home, you can imagine how much I 
appreciated her kindness. 

Our precious crates had been loaded upon 
a car, but the train started without the car. 
There was another hunting party to come 



242 THE UPPER YUKON 

down the following day, and we were told 
that their outfit and ours would both be placed 
in the same car. This would save the rail- 
road company the expense of sending two cars 
where one would do as well. 

The mountain scenery going down to Skag- 
way was equally as grand as it had been on 
the trip up, but we had seen so many moun- 
tains and canyons in the meantime that were 
higher and grander in every way that the im- 
pression left on the mind was not so vivid as 
on the first trip. 

Skagway seemed to be completely filled 
with people waiting for the Vancouver 
steamer, which was to leave that evening. 
Most of them were miners, business men or 
visitors from Dawson getting "out" before the 
Yukon River should freeze over. We were 
therefore unable to obtain accommodations on 
that boat, as every berth was taken. 

A Seattle steamer was expected to arrive 
the next day, so a stateroom was secured on 
her and we waited patiently for her arrival. 
At noon her sonorous whistle announced her 
arrival. Her freight for Skagway took but 
little time to lift out of her hold, and the down 
cargo was as quickly stowed in the vacant 
space; so the vessel was soon ready to com- 




Mrs. Dickson and Family 



RETURN TO WHITE HORSE 243 

mence her return trip. Then it was an- 
nounced that the train having the second hunt- 
ing party aboard, and our crates as well, was 
reported four and a half hours late. In place 
of arriving at 4.30 P. M. she would not arrive 
until nearly nine o'clock. It was said that the 
captain of the steamer had orders not to wait, 
and there was much 'phoning and many trips 
down to the steamer, which lay a mile and a 
half away. The captain waited, however. 

It would need the signature of the Ameri- 
can inspector to pass our crates of horns, etc., 
and as his office closed at 4.30 P. M., I found 
out his home address. At about six o'clock I 
went to his house and hold him of our anxiety 
to get off on the steamer that night, and that 
our stuff could not go without his signature 
to the necessary papers. I found him to be a 
courteous and kindly young man. 

He promptly and cheerfully agreed to be 
at the station to sign the papers, no matter 
what time the train arrived, and I hurried 
back to the station. On nearing it a great 
crowd of people was surging around it, and 
every one seemed to be wild with excitement. 
I was told that an exployee of the express com- 
pany had been blackjacked into insensibility 
but a few minutes before, and seven hundred 



244 THE UPPER YUKON 

dollars had been taken from him. He had 
been carried to the hospital in an insensible 
condition. 

There was some eager hunting for the one 
magistrate of the town, and for the one po- 
liceman. What made the outrage look so 
peculiar was the fact that the year before a 
similar robbery had been committed at about 
the same time. 

Reports coming from the hospital before we 
left stated that the man had been restored to 
consciousness and that he was resting quietly. 
When the train finally did arrive we found 
that the car containing the crates for both 
hunting parties had been left at the summit, 
many miles from Skagway. Why this was 
done none could tell, as it was all down hill 
from the divide to Skagway. The inspector 
promised to attend to our freight when it did 
arrive, and as we could do nothing else we 
made our way to the steamer. 

We were under many obligations to Mrs. 
Harriet Pullen, the proprietress of the Pullen 
House, who did everything she could to bring 
order out of chaos, even to going down to the 
vessel and inviting the captain and the chief 
engineer to take dinner with her, thus giving 
us an opportunity to be introduced to them 



RETURN TO WHITE HORSE 245 

and to see that the boat did not get away with- 
out us. 

The incident of the robbery gave the cap- 
tain considerable trouble. Many of the pas- 
sengers had their baggage searched before we 
left, and a sharp eye was kept upon all of the 
steerage or second-class passengers to see if the 
supposed robber was aboard. 

The story was wired ahead of us to Seattle. 
When we reached there at five A.M., we were 
delayed nearly an hour before we were per- 
mitted to go ashore, because of the necessity 
of making another thorough examination. 

No suspect was found and there was a good 
reason why. It developed some time later 
that the man who claimed to have been 
knocked down, robbed, and nearly killed, had 
inflicted the wounds upon himself. He had 
stolen seven hundred dollars from the express 
company and had hit upon this plan to get 
himself out of trouble. He made a complete 
confession and so ended the story of "the at- 
tempted murder." 

The trip down to Seattle was interesting 
and very enjoyable, although we arrived three 
days late. This was caused by having to stop 
frequently to take on large shipments of 
canned salmon, as the canneries had ceased 



246 THE UPPER YUKON 

operations and were closing up. We also 
brought the cannery employees along, most of 
them being Chinese or "Chinks," as they are 
called by the natives. 

We made long stops at Juneau, the capital 
of Alaska, and at Katchikan, Glacier Bay, and 
other salmon fishing ports. Katchikan is a 
town built on stilts where a very large cannery 
is in operation. Here we took on a thousand 
or more cases of canned salmon and eighty- 
three cases of fresh halibut, each case weigh- 
ing eight hundred pounds. This was billed 
through to China. Just imagine three hun- 
dred and thirty-two tons of fresh halibut being 
shipped all the way to the land of Confucius. 

At Wrangle we stopped for a while, took 
on some cargo, and thoroughly investigated 
this quaint old town. Two days before our 
arrival at Seattle we awoke in the morning to 
find a steamer following behind us closely, and 
we saw that she was trying to pass us. It was 
the Steamer Admiral Sansom bound from 
Seward to Seattle. It was believed that she 
would have some hunters aboard of her from 
the Kenai Peninsula. A wireless message 
from our boat was sent to her asking if Mr. 
Wilson Potter was on board. A reply came 
back almost instantly: 



RETURN TO WHITE HORSE 247 

"Yes, and several other hunting parties are 
aboard with him." 

It reminded me of Puck's boast, "I'll put a 
girdle round about the earth in forty minutes." 
It seemed strange to know that the man who 
had helped me to make all the arrangements 
for my successful trip in the Yukon was right 
here within talking distance of us, and in a 
few hours would meet me in Seattle. 

Mr. Potter and his party, together with the 
other hunters sailing on the Admiral Sansom, 
had been in the Kenai Peninsula and had been 
taken on the steamer at Seward, Alaska. As 
the steamer makes only one trip a month to 
Seward, it behooved all of the hunters to be 
"out" in time to meet her. Each hunter had 
been successful in killing several bull moose 
and bears, besides a number of white sheep. 

At noon of the day of our arrival we all met 
at a dinner in a large hotel as the guests of Mr. 
Potter, and a few of the experiences of each 
party were rehearsed. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW TERRITORY 

"Thus far into the bowels of the land, 
Have we marched on without impediment." 

THROUGH the courtesy of the Hon, H. 
H. Stevens, M. P. for the District of 
Vancouver, I have been fortunate enough to 
obtain copies of all the so-called old, and 
many of the nev^, surveys of the Pelly-Yukon 
River district. 

It will surprise most people to know that 
the first prospector to cross from the coast to 
the headwaters of the Yukon River was one 
George Holt — according to the report of 
George M. Dawson, C. M. G., L. L. L., 
F. R. S., by all odds the most famous sur- 
veyor, geologist, and naturalist among Cana- 
dian scientists. 

Holt's journey was made in 1878, so that at 
the present time the short space of thirty-five 
years only divides this now well-known ter- 
ritory from the oblivion in which it was in- 
volved prior to that year. 



A NEW TERRITORY 249 

The intrepid George Holt was afterwards 
murdered by Indians at Cook's Inlet, Alaska, 
in 1885, seven years after his successful jour- 
ney from ocean to river. 

To quote from Dawson: "In 1880 a pros- 
pecting party of nineteen men under one Ed- 
win Bean was organized in Sitka. Amicable 
relations were established with the Chilkat 
and the Chilcoot Indians who controlled the 
Chilkoot Pass. This pass was crossed and 
then they packed their stufif to Lake Linde- 
man — the fountain head of the Yukon. On 
July 4th the party, now increased to twenty- 
five men and having built boats, started down 
the then mysterious stream, the Yukon. They 
went as far as Teslin Lake and then they 
turned back after having found but a little 
gold on the river bars, equal to a yield of $2.50 
per day. 

"Dr. Arthur Krause, a German scientist 
from Berlin, made an exploration of the Chil- 
kat and Chilkoot passes in 1881, reaching 
Lake Lindeman and the sources of the To- 
hi-ni River respectively. 

"In 1883 Lieut. Schatka of the U. S. 
Surveying Corps crossed the Chilkoot Pass, 
and descended the Lewis-Yukon River to the 
sea, a distance of about two thousand miles. 



250 THE UPPER YUKON 

"In 1886 coarse gold was found on Forty 
Mile Creek — a good distance below the now 
modern city of Dawson. This caused a gold 
rush, and a miner named Williams in bring- 
ing: out the news was frozen to death on the 
Chilkoot Pass in January of 1887. At this 
time the miners were not content with less 
than a return in gold of the value of $14.00 a 
day. The estimated number of all the miners 
in the Upper Yukon Country in 1887 was not 
over two hundred and fifty." 

In i887-'88 William Ogilvie, D. L. S., an- 
other famous Canadian explorer, crossed the 
Chilkoot Pass with a heavy outfit, among 
which were two Peterboro canoes, each one 
strong enough to hold two men and 1400 
pounds of freight. These boats made 1700 
landings and did about 2500 miles of work 
on Lewis River, Porcupine River, Bell's 
River, Poplar River, Pells River and thence 
up the great Mackenzie River — a distance of 
1400 miles. After all of this, they were left 
at Fort Chipewyan in a fairly good condi- 
tion, "and," says Ogilvie, "with a little paint- 
ing they would go through the same ordeal 
again." 

This intrepid explorer built another boat, a 
large one, and with the three boats he started 



A NEW TERRITORY 251 

down the Yukon to go as far as the interna- 
tional boundary line — about 700 miles. He 
found the much-dreaded White Horse Pass 
unsafe to run with the big boats. He sent two 
men through the canyon in one of the canoes 
to await the arrival of one boat and to be 
ready to pick up the men in case of an acci- 
dent. Every man in the party was supplied 
with a life preserver, so that if a casualty had 
occurred they all would have floated. Those 
in the canoe got through, but would not try it 
again. The passage through the canyon was 
made in three minutes, or at the rate of twelve 
and one-half miles an hour. 

There's a rock in the middle of the channel 
near the upper end of the carry, the one that 
makes the passage so difficult. In low water 
this rock barely shows itself above the sur- 
face. The distance from the head to the foot 
of the canyon is five-eighths of a mile, with a 
basin about midway in it of 150 yards in di- 
ameter. It is circular in form, with steep 
sides about 100 feet high. The lower part of 
the canyon is much rougher to run through 
than the upper. 

"The White Horse Rapids proper are only 
about three-eighths of a mile long, and are 
the most dangerous rapids of the whole river. 



252 THE UPPER YUKON 

At the foot of the channel it is only thirty 
yards wide, and here there is a sudden drop 
and the water rushes through at a tremendous 
rate, leaping and seathing like a cataract. 
The miners have constructed a portage road 
on the west side and put down rollways in 
some places on which to shove their boats over, 
and they have also made some windlasses to 
haul their boats up hill, at the foot of the 
canyon. 

"The next great obstruction in the river is 
the Five Finger Rapids. These are made by 
several islands standing in the channel and 
backing up the water so as to raise it about a 
foot, causing a swell below. For two miles 
the rapids are very swift, but nowadays steam- 
ers 'buck' these rapids and with the help of a 
cable they do fairly well." 

All of the above is quoted from Prof. 
Ogilvie's Report of his Surveys in iSSy-'SS. 
In the same year Dr. G. M. Dawson made 
a journey from the Stikine River, in British 
Columbia, to the Yukon, following the Liard, 
Frances, and Finlayson rivers. 

In the early winter of 1893, Warburton 
Pike crossed from the Liard River to the 
Pelly Lakes by way of Frances Lake and 
Ptarmigan Creek. When the spring opened 



A NEW TERRITORY 253 

he descended the Pelly and Yukon rivers all 
the way to Behring Sea. Warburton Pike 
started in on his long journey from Lac La 
Hache — "the lake of the axe." This lake is 
about a hundred and twenty miles from Ash- 
croft on the C. P. R. R. He was alone and 
his pack contained fifty pounds of flour, a slab 
of bacon, some matches, candles, salt, cart- 
ridges, clothes, shoes, etc., and this with his 
axe and rifle enabled him to spend a whole 
year in making this remarkable trip of over 
two thousand miles. 

The year i897-'98 saw a wonderful hegira 
of excited men and some women all rushing 
pell-mell to the Klondike gold fields. Of the 
thousands upon thousands of people who made 
the trip or attempted to make it, thousands 
died. A host of men undertook to reach the 
fabled country by way of the Mackenzie River 
Valley. We quote now from Prof. Joseph 
Keele: 

"Of the latter, was a party starting from 
Fort Norman on the Mackenzie River in the 
month of November, 1897. Hauling their 
outfits on sleds under the guidance of one In- 
dian, they followed an Indian trail to the 
Gravel River and went up the Twitya River 
to the divide. They then followed one of the 



254 THE UPPER YUKON 

branches of the Hess River, reaching boating 
water on this stream in April, 1898, and de- 
scended the Hess and Stewart rivers to the 
Yukon, thus taking six months in all on the 
trip." 

The dreadful hardships of such a journey 
can be imagined by any one who will think 
for a few minutes of the extremities they must 
have been put to in getting enough food to 
satisfy their wants on a trip lasting half a year 
and most of it in the winter months, when the 
thermometer frequently goes to 60 degrees 
below zero. 

Then think of the swarms of men that per- 
ished from overwork and exposure in climb- 
ing the Chilkoot and Chilkat passes. Men 
who perhaps had never done any real hard 
work in their lives were suddenly called upon 
to bear the burden of a pack weighing from 
sixty to eighty pounds or more, a distance of 
eighteen miles from Skagway (the coast) to 
Chilkoot Summit, and then twenty-two miles 
to Lake Lindeman. This they had to do be- 
fore they could float their supplies and them- 
selves, by boat or canoe, down the stream, and 
through the dreaded White Horse Rapids. 
When once in the broad Yukon it was easy 
going to the Klondike. Is it not a won- 



A NEW TERRITORY 255 

der that any of these men ever pulled through? 

Think of the fatal snow-slide on Chilkoot 
Mountain when the men who were crowding 
up to the top — in spite of the warnings given 
them that the snow was not safe — were in the 
twinkling of an eye carried down by an ava- 
lanche, and sixty-nine men speedily found 
a grave amid the sliding, rushing, deadly 
snow. 

Think also of the men who lost all, who 
pawned their spare clothes to buy food, who 
searched for gold and found it not, who 
couldn't get work because they had no trade 
and were physically unfit for the hard work 
of digging gold in the mines. 

Many blew out their brains, more died of 
starvation, others went insane. For every 
eighteen men who succeeded, eighty-two other 
men either fell by the wayside, or returned 
home in a crippled condition, financially as 
well as physically. 

It is true that since then an enormous out- 
put of gold has been yearly shipped away — as 
much as $25,000,000 in one year, but this huge 
sum has been made mostly by wealthy com- 
panies operating the mines under skillful man- 
agement and with up-to-date machinery. The 
Rothschilds and the Guggenheims, and others 



256 THE UPPER YUKON 

of their class, have been the men to gather in 
the rich deposits of gold. The poor man only 
occasionally made a hit. The rich companies 
took few risks; they knew what they were 
about; they had the money, the machinery and 
the men to get the most of the mineral wealth 
out with the least possible cost. 

In a little less than two years the city of 
Dawson became one of the most talked-of cit- 
ies of the world. In this young city there 
were "revels by day and revels by night." 
There was gambling that in its fury of excite- 
ment eclipsed Monte Carlo itself. The dance 
halls were dens of vice that in point of ex- 
travagance, brutality, and indecency, the 
Bowery in New York in the palmiest days 
could never equal. The city was overrun by 
the painted women who usually follow the vi- 
cissitudes of gold-mining rushes. 

Thus it was that Dawson became famous. 
Thus it was that the people of the outside 
world came to know that there is a wonderful 
Yukon River two thousand miles long that 
flows north, then northwest, and finally south, 
and empties into Behring Sea. They learned 
that it drains a great country rich in minerals 
of nearly every kind — a territory studded with 
high snow-capped mountains and icy glaciers, 



A NEW TERRITORY 






with wide rivers whose beds are paved with 
stones of volcanic origin; that the volcanic 
pumice-sands stretch in certain districts for 
hundreds of miles. They learned that it is 
a country abounding in big game; that the 
streams are alive with fish (particularly the 
grayling) ; that there are birds of many kinds, 
some of them excellent game birds; that the 
soil is rich, and consequently there is a rich 
vegetation in several districts. They learned 
that this country is called "The Yukon Terri- 
tory," and that it is not in Alaska, but belongs 
to Canada and not to the United States. It 
may be truly said that, as far as the outside 
world knows, this territory was only discov- 
ered in 1898 — or fifteen years ago. 

On the steamer from Vancouver to Skag- 
way, in the long interior waterway of one 
thousand miles, were many passengers who 
had recently arrived from Europe. Two of 
them were men famous in the development of 
the Yukon Territory. Their stories of the 
"early days" as narrated by them from day to 
day were full of unique experiences, and we 
sat night after night spell-bound listening to 
them. 

No one can keep from admiring the pluck, 
persistence, and heroism of the "Argonauts 



2^8 THE UPPER YUKON 

of the Upper Yukon." Those whom Fortune 
— the fickle goddess — smiled upon, were well 
remembered by these men, while those whom 
she frowned upon were soon forgotten. 

The world always loves and extols a win- 
ner, but has no time for a loser. Excuses do 
not help — it matters not how good they are. 
The world is rushing on, and cannot stop to 
listen to apologizers. 

Since the experiences of 1849 in California, 
nothing has approached the almost fabled his- 
tory of the Yukon, and the more it is consid- 
ered, the more wonderful it becomes. In the 
years to come the legends of the sufferings and 
privations of the first comers, their successes 
and failures, will be featured in poetry, in 
fiction, and in history, and the time is even now 
ripe for such a literary awakening. 



CHAPTER XXI 

THREE NOTABLE MEN 

"He was famous, Sir, in his profession, and it was his 
great right to be so." 

IN 1887, ten years before the beginning of 
the Klondike gold rush in the Yukon, the 
Canadian Government appointed Dr. George 
M. Dawson as head of an exploiting and sur- 
veying expedition called the Yukon Expedi- 
tion. 

Dr. Dawson was assisted by R. G. McCon- 
nell and J. McEvoy, of the Geological Sur- 
vey, while W. Ogilvie "was entrusted with the 
conduct of instrumental measurement and the 
astronomical work in connection with the 
determination of the position of the 141st 
meridian." 

This expedition was undertaken for the pur- 
pose of gaining information of the vast and 
hitherto almost unknown tract of country 
which forms the extreme northwesterly por- 
tion of the Northwest Territory. This tract 
is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, 



26o THE UPPER YUKON 

on the south by British Columbia, on the west 
by the eastern line of Alaska, and on the east 
by the Rocky Mountains and the 136th 
meridian. It has a total area of 192,000 
square miles, of which 150,768 square miles 
are included in the watershed of the Yukon 
River, a distance nearly equal to the whole 
of France or three times that of the New Eng- 
land states. 

It will be realized by all that for such a 
stupendous task the men selected must have 
had great physical strength, endurance, pluck, 
perseverance, good judgment, and the best sci- 
entific knowledge. 

As I have already made mention of Dr. 
Dawson, I now want to write a few lines about 
Mr. Ogilvie and his work. 

William Ogilvie 

In an article in the Canadian Courier, 
Henry J. Woodside fittingly calls William 
Ogilvie "the Great Pathfinder." He says: 

"This great man was first discovered by Sir 
John A. Macdonald, the Premier of Canada 
for many years, who sent him on various im- 
portant missions affecting Provincial and Do- 
minion boundary lines, and this in time led up 



THREE NOTABLE MEN 261 

to the Yukon Expedition named above. It 
was he who completed the determination of 
the 141st meridian which established the boun- 
dary between Alaska and Canada and which 
was accepted by the United States for twenty 
years. 

"By reason of the extensive territory he had 
to cover, and the total lack of transportation 
facilities, he was compelled to abandon most 
of the proper but weighty instruments for as- 
tronomical observation, but his tactful adapta- 
tion of local aids was so well utilized that two 
clever astronomers, F. A. McDiamid and W. 
C. Jaques, who made observations in 1907, 
twenty years afterwards, showed that this line 
was only a few hundred feet out. Ogilvie was 
compelled to do some of his fine work with his 
small instrument clamped on a tree stump, 
clinging to a slope, which persisted in 
shifting slightly with varying temperatures. 
Many of the observations were taken at night 
in a temperature of 20 to 55 degrees below 
zero, when after hours of tense and motionless 
work, alternately watching stars chase each 
other across the hair wires of his telescope, 
and the flying second hands of his chronome- 
ter, his own hands were usually paralyzed with 
cold. He had only one chronometer and 



262 THE UPPER YUKON 

there were five ticks to each second, and each 
tick meant a difference of about a thousand 
feet. With his crude appliances and the re- 
moteness from telegraphic connection twenty- 
five years ago, we cannot but wonder at the 
accuracy of his observations and deductions. 

''After completing his work on the 17th of 
March, 1888, he left by snowshoe, and later 
by canoe, on a great trip of over 2,500 miles 
down the Yukon, across the divide to the 
Mackenzie River basin, up the Mackenzie to 
Edmonton, Saskatchewan, and later to Win- 
nipeg and Ottawa. The most of this journey 
in the great primeval land was through a sec- 
tion unexplored and uninhabited. 

"Once more he was sent to the Yukon in 
1895 to prolong his international line. He 
remained there until 1897. Then the gold 
on Bonanza Creek was discovered, and thou- 
sands — some say forty thousand — poured into 
this section as rapidly as the natural difficul- 
ties of the trip would permit. 

"The Northwest Mounted Police at that 
time were seventy miles away and few in num- 
ber. Ogilvie had gone up to the Dawson 
townsite (now the capital of the territory) to 
lay it out. Numerous quarrels over claims 
broke out among the miners, bloodshed was in 








Kibbee's Indian Huntress in Her Cabin 



THREE NOTABLE MEN 263 

sight, chaos reigned, and claim-jumping was 
much in fashion. A petition signed by one 
hundred and thirty men was sent to Ogilvie 
asking him to survey the Bonanza Creek. 
This he did in mid-winter when the ther- 
mometer was practically useless, the tempera- 
ture being so low. 

"For this valuable and risky work he made 
no charge either directly or indirectly. He 
was warned that he might be shot if he inter- 
fered with the claim jumpers, but he was a 
fearless man and went on with his work as 
if it was an every-day pastime. 

"The quarreling men became convinced of 
his honesty and efficiency and his decisions 
were accepted without demur. There were 
no homicides, although in one case he sur- 
veyed a temporary host off his jumped claim. 

"He could have made a fortune if he had so 
desired, as he had a host of chances to get the 
very cream of the golden field, but he would 
neither profit himself by the expert knowl- 
edge that he obtained through his work, nor 
give his friends a single tip which might have 
made them rich. 

"What wonder when a Governor — or chief- 
commissioner, as the executive was titled — ■ 
was needed in the turbulent times of 1898, that 



264 THE UPPER YUKON 

this brave and honest man was selected to fill 
this high position? 

"Please imagine, if you can, what a bub- 
bling, boiling cauldron of chaotic conditions 
would and did face him when he took posses- 
sion of the governor's seat. He held the ex- 
alted position for three years and never did a 
Canadian administration have a more perplex- 
ing, strenuous, and trying position than fell to 
the lot of William Ogilvie. It goes without 
saying that under his sway chaos gave way to 
order, fear to a sense of security, law and order 
were enforced, and honesty of administration 
in all the departments of the government was 
insisted upon. During his time of office Daw- 
son, the village, grew to be a famous city. 
The chaff was separated from the wheat; the 
evil ones, both male and female, who always 
follow in the train of a gold-mining rush, were 
either kept under close surveillance or driven 
out of the territory altogether. 

"All of this work needed and demanded the 
powerful help of the famous Northwest 
Mounted Police, numbering at that time in 
the Yukon one hundred men. 

"It must be remembered that in the wake of 
the 25,000 or more gold hunters in and around 
Dawson — men who came from all over the 



THREE NOTABLE MEN 265 

world — there was a small army of gamblers, 
dancers, prostitutes, blacklegs, and crooks of 
all types and kinds, chafing at the enac- 
tions made necessary to guarantee law and 
order. 

"Yet under Ogilvie's administration a man's 
life was as safe and a woman's person was as 
secure day or night as in any city of the 
continent. 

"Ogilvie resigned in 1901. About a year 
ago, while at La Pass near the mouth of the 
Saskatchewan, he suffered from what he be- 
lieved to be ptomaine poisoning. He re- 
turned to Ottawa and there submitted to an 
operation. He resumed his work, but in the 
Winnipeg River district he was again taken 
ill and was removed to Winnipeg. It was too 
late, however. He died on the 12th of No- 
vember, 1 91 2." 

A grand range of mountains in the Yukon 
is named after him, and many trails also, 
which will keep his name and memory fresh 
for ages to come. 

This distinguished man left no estate of 
moment. His faithful wife is still living. I 
feel sure that the Canadian Government, when 
this condition is explained, will see that a 
modest pension is bestowed upon Mrs. Ogilvie, 



266 THE UPPER YUKON 

and that a suitable monument is erected in 
Ottawa to perpetuate his memory. 

Frank Kibbee 

In my hunting excursion to northern British 
Columbia in 1909, our head guide was a man 
named Frank Kibbee. He was born in Mon- 
tana forty-seven years ago. He early took to 
trapping — his father was a trapper before him 
— and he soon learned to shoot well and to 
ride a horse fearlessly. 

Leaving his home he drifted to Bear Lake, 
upper British Columbia, where he started 
trapping. As Bear Lake is but twenty-two 
miles across the mountains from Barkerville 
— the largest gold-mining field in the Prov- 
ince — his yearly catch of fur always brought 
him good prices. Besides this he usually has 
one or more hunting parties each season to 
look after, so that he is prospering fairly well. 

Since I last saw him he had made up his 
mind that he must get a wife and, as women 
are very scarce in that section, it was hard to 
find one. Hearing that advertising when 
''properly" handled always brings results, he 
thought he would try it. Kibbee is a man with 
a good bit of humor, and he has an odd way 
of saying things. He drafted his "ad" in his 



THREE NOTABLE MEN 267 

own style and sent it out to the nearest local 
paper in Ashcroft — a town on the C. P. R. R. 
— over three hundred miles from Bear Lake. 
The "ad" was so earnestly and oddly written 
that it attracted the attention of some of the 
big magazines, who voluntarily published it 
for the sake of its humor. In response to the 
"ad" he is said to have received in all sixty- 
five answers, out of which he picked two that 
he "was willin' to pay the freight on," to use 
his own words, and in the course of time one 
of these two was finally accepted. She is an 
English woman, and came a distance of sev- 
eral thousand miles to meet him. 

According to the testimony of all those in 
Barkerville who have seen her, she is a com- 
plete success as a wife, and she is very much 
in love with her husband, as he is with 
her. 

Kibbee, to my mind, and from my personal 
knowledge of him, is a wonder of strength, en- 
durance, agility, and nerve, as most of the men 
who "make good" in these far northern sec- 
tions are. 

The following letter written to me by Mr. 
F. J. Tregillus, an English mining engineer, 
under date of December 26, 191 2, will give 
a better illustration of what privations and 



268 THE UPPER YUKON 

hardships the men of the northwest can en- 
dure than anything I can write: 

"There is a wagon road now to within seven 
miles of Bear Lake which will be completed 
to that point next season. I took my wife and 
youngsters there last September and spent 
three very pleasant days with Mr. and Mrs. 
Kibbee. She is a countrywoman of yours 
(and mine) and although she was scarcely ever 
outside of a city, she is very much at home at 
Bear Lake and makes an admirable wife. 
Another tribute to 'the power of the Press.' 

"Kibbee was very anxious for us to stay 
a few days longer, as he had a bear trap set 
about a quarter of a mile from the house, down 
by the river, and he wanted the women and 
'kids' to see a grizzly tied up alive. I was 
to photograph all hands — and the bear — 
whilst Kibbee covered the 'works' with his 
rifle. 

"About a week after we left the trap turned 
up missing. Kibbee did not discover this for 
three days, but as soon as he found if out, he 
started on the trail. The bear had been hung 
up several times by the log or 'toggle' attached 
to the trap, but had chewed himself loose each 
time, so when Kibbee came up with him he 



THREE NOTABLE MEN 269 

was a mad bear all through, and had only a 
short piece of 'toggle' left. 

" 'Twas on a steep side-hill about a mile 
back of his house, — the bear above and close 
to the trapper. Kibbee opened fire and mor- 
tally wounded him, but didn't stop him. 
They had an awful fight, bare hands against 
claws and teeth; finally the bear walked away 
and died, but not before Kibbee had taken an- 
other shot (an aimless one) at him. 

"Considering the mauling he'd had, that 
last shot was a rare exhibition of grit. Dur- 
ing the scuffle, Kibbee's efforts were mainly 
directed toward keeping the bear (who had 
him down in the first round) from chewing 
his throat, so his hands were covered with 
tooth marks that entirely went through in a 
number of places; both his arms, especially 
the left, were badly mutilated, but his head 
got the worst punishment. The right half of 
his face, including the teeth, was torn away 
and the scalp was fearfully lacerated. 

"Kibbee walked home and at once a man was 
sent from a surveying party camped on the 
beach for the doctor, twenty-two miles away, 
who immediately set out on receipt of the 
news. When the doctor arrived — at 4.30 
A. M. — Kibbee could not articulate on account 



270 THE UPPER YUKON 

of his cheek being open. As soon as this was 
stitched up, he commenced telling the doctor 
how it all happened and described the fight 
'by rounds' in such an original manner that he 
kept the doctor laughing all the time he was 
working on him, and that was the best part 
of a day. The doctor had grave doubts as to 
his recovery during the first week, as he had a 
bad clout in the ribs, probably from the bear 
trap, which caused much pain, besides the 
passing and bringing up of considerable blood 
— also from the fear of blood poisoning. 
However, five weeks later he was in here to 
get some pieces of bone taken out of his jaw. 
He had already been up to Sandy Lake with 
a load of grub, etc., but couldn't rest for the 
pain in his face. He wasn't fit to travel, but 
having made nothing all summer and gone 
into debt a bit, he was very keen to make a 
big catch of furs. 

''On account of his condition he got a part- 
ner to trap with him for the winter, and a 
woman from here to stay with his wife at Bear 
Lake, as he would be most of the time away. 

"They got their last load to Sandy Lake on 
the seventeenth of November, and started to 
work next day. On the twenty-second Kibbee 
was returning from a short five-mile trapping 




m 



^ 



THREE NOTABLE MEN 271 

line, and was crossing a beaver pond, about 
a mile from camp. The pond was frozen, 
but the water had receded and Kibbee went 
through. His revolver, which was tied to his 
belt without a holster, was discharged into his 
leg. The string must have got over the trig- 
ger — 'tis a self-cocker. 

'When his partner got home that night 
from a long trapping line to Little Lake, he 
found Kibbee in his bunk (he had crawled 
home) with a badly swollen and discolored 
knee and in great pain. Medical aid being 
out of the question, they decided to operate 
at once with a jack-knife, Kibbee making the 
first part of the incision over the spot where 
he thought the bullet lay. Then his partner 
dug down, located the lead, loosened it, and 
hooked it out with a piece of rusty wire. 
'Twas a .38 special Smith & Wesson bullet. 
One side of the missile was shorn flat from 
having slid along the bone. His partner then 
left him for two days, bringing back three 
other trappers to move Kibbee to Bear Lake. 
It took the four of them five days to make the 
trip — partly on a stretcher, partly on a sleigh, 
and down Bear Lake by canoe. You can 
imagine what Kibbee suffered, as they had to 
camp out three nights, and to make things 



272 THE UPPER YUKON 

worse they broke through the ice several 
times. 

"The doctor went out from here as soon as 
we heard about it. He thinks Kibbee will get 
the use of his leg again, but it may not be for 
several months. We intend moving him into 
Barkerville in a day or so, as we think his 
health and spirits will recover more quickly 
with more cheerful surroundings." 

Following this letter came one from Mrs. 
Kibbee describing in detail her husband's suf- 
ferings and his cheerfulness, and another one 
still later from a miner stating that the man 
who was so nearly torn to pieces was mending 
nicely and would soon be at work again. The 
nerve, endurance, and patience of such men 
as Kibbee make us exclaim, "Heavens, what 
a man is there!" 

Bishop Bompas 

For many years past I had read much about 
a famous Episcopal Bishop who ministered 
to the people of the Northwest Territory, and 
whose domain of influence, exercised over both 
white men and red men, extended from the 
Arctic Circle to the basin of the great Mac- 
kenzie River and of the Yukon as well. 



THREE NOTABLE MEN 273 

Our Chief was very proud of the fact that 
he not only had been well acquainted with 
this great man, but on several occasions when 
he was on the mounted police force had been 
"honored" by the Bishop's enlisting his aid 
in rescuing destitute families, in keeping sur- 
veillance over unruly districts, and in keeping 
"tab" upon certain people whom he was 
using his best endeavors to lead to a better 
life. 

There were many anecdotes about him and 
his almost superhuman work, for his flock 
was scattered over a country a million square 
miles in extent. "He came from England as 
a young Cockney curate in 1865, and as the 
wild geese were flying southward he was pass- 
ing to the north to enter upon a work which 
was finished only by his death in 1906 — forty 
years of earnest, strenuous, efficient, kindly, 
and unselfish work." 

Perhaps you yourself may have heard of 
him; his name was Bishop Bompas. Let us 
listen to Agnes Dean Cameron's tribute to this 
grand man. 

In her brave journey from the Athabasca 
River down to the delta of the Mackenzie 
River, she came in frequent touch with a large 
portion of the people he ministered to, and 



274 THE UPPER YUKON 

she was able to gather incidents in his life 
work at first hand: 

"We are told that Bishop Bompas's father 
was Dickens's prototype for Sergeant Buzfuz. 
A new vista would open up to the counsel for 
Mrs. Burdell could he turn from his chops 
and tomato sauce to follow the forty years' 
wandering in the wilderness of this splendid 
man of God, who succeeded, if ever man suc- 
ceeds, in following Paul's advice of keeping 
his body under. Bishop Bompas was one of 
the greatest linguists the mother country ever 
produced. Steeped in Hebrew and the clas- 
sics when he entered the northland, he imme- 
diately set himself to studying the various na- 
tive languages, becoming thoroughly master 
of the Slavi, Beaver, Dog-Rib, and Tukudk 
dialects. 

^'When Mrs. Bompas sent him a Syriac tes- 
tament and lexicon, he threw himself with 
characteristic energy into the study of that 
tongue. There is something in the picture of 
this devoted man writing Gospels in Slavi, 
Primers in Dog-Rib, and a Prayer Book in 
Chipewyan, which brings to mind the figure 
of Caxton bending his silvered head over the 
blocks of the first printing press in the old 
almonry so many years before. What were 



THREE NOTABLE MEN 275 

the 'libraries' in which this Arctic Apostle did 
his work? The floor of a scow on the Peace 
River; a hole in the snow; a fetid corner of 
an Eskimo hut. His bishop's palace when he 
was not afloat consisted of a bare room twelve 
feet by eight, in which he studied, cooked, 
slept, and taught the Indians. 

"They tell you stories up here of seeing the 
good Bishop come back from a distant journey 
to some isolated tribe followed at heel by a 
dozen little Indian babies, his disciples for the 
days to come. 

"There is one tale of this man which only 
those can appreciate who travel his trail. An 
Indian lad confides to us: 

" 'Yes, my name is William Carpenter — 
Bishop Bompas gave me my name; he was a 
good man. He wouldn't hurt anybody. He 
never hit a dog — he wouldn't kill a mosquito; 
he had not much hair on his head, and when it 
was Meetsu, when the Bishop eat his fish, he 
shoo the mosquito away and he say: "Room 
for you, my little friend, and room for me, but 
this is not your place. Go!" ' 

"Entering the little church at Fort Simpson, 
we see the neat font sent here by Mrs. Bom- 
pas, 'In dear memory of Lucy May Owindia, 
baptised in this church January, 1879.' Owin- 



276 THE UPPER YUKON 

dia was one of the many red waifs that the 
good Bishop and Mrs. Bompas took to their 
big hearts. Her story is a sad one. Along 
the beach at Simpson, Friday, an Indian, in 
a burst of ungovernable temper murdered his 
wife and fled, leaving their one baby to per- 
ish. It was not until the next day that the 
little one was found, unconscious and dying. 
The Bishop and Mrs. Bompas took the child 
into their loving care. To the name Owindia, 
which means 'The Weeping One,' was added 
the modern Lucy May, and the little girlie 
twined herself around the hearts of her pro- 
tectors. When the time seemed ripe, Owin- 
dia was taken back to England to school, but 
the wee, red plant would not flourish in that 
soil — she sickened and died. Hence the me- 
morial and inscription we read this July day. 

"Much history of militant energy — much 
of endurance and countless chapters of be- 
nevolence did the good Bishop write into the 
history before, on the Yukon side in 1906, 
God's finger touched him, and he slept." 

This good man was doctor and surgeon as 
well as bishop. Old David Villeneure, of 
Fort Providence, told us of the time that a 
fish-stage fell on him, and seriously crushed 
his leg: 



THREE NOTABLE MEN 277 

"I didn't pay no notice to my leg until it 
began to go bad, den I take it to de English 
Church to Bishop Bompas. He tole me de 
leg must come off and ax me to get a letter 
from de priest (I'm Cat-o-lic, me) telling it 
was all right to cut him. I get de letter and 
bring my leg to Bompas. He cut 'im off wid 
meat-saw. No, I tak not'in', me. I chew 
tobacco and tak' one big drink of Pain-killer. 
Yes, it hurt w'en he strike de marrow." 

"Heavens, didn't you faint with the awful 
pain?" 

"What — faint — me? No. I say, get me 
my fire bag — I want to have a smoke." 

It will be seen by the above narrative that 
the Bishop was careful not to antagonize the 
missionaries of the Roman Catholic church, as 
he always worked in harmony with them as 
they did with him. 

Around White Horse the store-keepers and 
other business men have a fund of stories to 
tell about him. When his race was about run 
some one in England left him a legacy of 
170,000 pounds — nearly a million dollars. I 
am told that he expended the most of it in 
bettering the condition of the Indians. After 
his death, when his will was opened, he had 
left instructions that he was to be buried in 



278 THE UPPER YUKON 

the Indian grave-yard and under no account 
should his body be sent to England. 

In the forty years of his ministrations this 
great man made more trips to and from the 
Arctic Circle than any other man that has ever 
lived. He had the Indian's instinct for travel 
— for finding his ow^n way all alone in safety 
to any point or section of country that he 
wanted to reach. It goes without saying that 
he often suffered from want of provisions and 
prolonged hunger, that his resting place at 
night was frequently in a snowdrift. It is 
said that several times he had to eat the tops 
of his leather boots to keep from starving. 
Yet there was no complaining; he was cheer- 
ful at all times, with a kind word and a happy 
smile for the white man, the Indian, or the 
Esquimaux. 

No wonder then that his name is now held 
in high honor and reverence on the watersheds 
of the Mackenzie, the Peace, the Pelly, the 
Macmillan, the Liard, the Red, the Porcu- 
pine, and the Yukon rivers. Had he been of 
the Roman Catholic faith it is altogether likely 
that in time he would have been canonized and 
known as the "Martyr of the Northwest 
Territory." 



CHAPTER XXII 

THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 

"This is the law of the Yukon 

That only the strong shall thrive, 
That surely the weak shall perish 
And only the fit survive." 

IT was intensely interesting to listen to the 
life histories of the men of the Yukon, to 
stories of their ups and downs, and of their 
fierce struggles to succeed against the unex- 
pected obstructions that are so often met with 
in this far-off Canadian territory. I empha- 
size the ''Canadian territory" because the ma- 
jority of the people of the United States think 
the Yukon Territory is a part of Alaska. It 
is in reality a great wilderness in northwest 
Canada through which flows the mighty Yu- 
kon River. Roughly speaking, the upper half 
of the river flows through Yukon and the 
lower half Alaska. The boundary line is 
quite close to the mouth of the White River, 
which flows into the Yukon several hundred 
miles below Dawson. 

With the coming in of November each year, 



28o THE UPPER YUKON 

a stranger will find double windows on what 
few houses there are in White Horse. Then 
the days are short and the nights are long and 
the cold may be severe. Before November 
there is a genuine hegira of men and women 
rushing out to escape being "frozen in" — and 
this is so particularly from Dawson. The 
route is by steamer to White Horse, where 
they get rail transportation to Skagway, and 
from that port the crowd will take the first 
steamer either to Vancouver in Canada, or to 
Seattle in Washington. When the river is 
tightly frozen over, the men who are left in 
the interior have practically but two occupa- 
tions before them — mining and trapping. 
It's ''Hobson's choice" with them. Either oc- 
cupation means exposure to an extremely low 
temperature, with high winds, at times deep 
snows, and frozen ground. In either of these 
two occupations the severe climate soon weeds 
out the feeble ones. The Yukon is no place 
for the weakling. The man with timid heart 
or flabby muscles had better stay at home. To 
survive they must be 

"The men with the hearts of vikings, and the simple faith 
of a child, 
Desperate, strong, and resistless, unthrottled by fear or 
defeat." 



THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 281 

So it has come to pass that those men who are 
left are either giants in stature and physical 
strength, or lightly built men with nerve and 
grit, and muscles tough enough to cope with 
all sorts of hard work. 

While this is true of the men, it is equally 
true of the few women that are to be found 
in this territory. It is said that of every one 
hundred white men in the Yukon but ten are 
married, and of that ten but two are married 
to white women. The story I am about to 
narrate will feature two white women and one 
Indian woman, each one in her own sphere 
being a heroine of the far northwest. All of 
them are so highly spoken of, and thought of, 
by the men who are fortunate enough to be 
acquainted with them, that they are almost 
worshiped. Let any man, white or red, say 
ought against any one of the three, and he will 
be so roughly handled by his fellows that he'll 
never make such a gross blunder again. 

The White Housewife 

A portion of our long journey covered a 
distance of one hundred and fifty miles over 
a good trail, which reached from White Horse 
to the head of a large lake about forty miles 
long. We arrived there late at night at a lit- 



282 THE UPPER YUKON 

tie hamlet lying close to the sandy margin 
of this lake. We were conducted into the 
cabin of our head guide, whom we called the 
Chief. The floor was covered with bear, 
caribou, moose, fox, and wolverine skins, and 
on these we laid our sleeping bags and soon 
were in the land of Nod. 

In the morning the writer was awakened by 
the sweet and melodious voice of a woman 
who was talking to Gene, our cook. Hastily 
dressing, I looked into the kitchen and saw 
the "lady fair" just leaving for her own dom- 
icile, which was across the trail from ours. 
She had brought a basket of fresh vegetables 
out of her own garden for our delectation and 
nourishment. There were radishes, lettuce, 
carrots, turnips, etc. We heartily enjoyed 
them. Our cook told us her name, and also 
some of her life history. 

He said she certainly would not take any 
pay for what she had brought us, because that 
was only one of the many ways that she had 
with which she rejoiced the hearts of all who 
met her. However, I called upon her, and 
happily having some little household neces- 
saries with me which could be spared from 
our outfit, I prevailed upon her to take them, 
and then she asked me to sit down and tell her 



THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 283 

the news of the outside world. What 1 had 
to narrate was made as brief as possible, so 
that I might learn from her own lips the story 
of her experience in this far-off region. She 
was the only white woman to be found within 
a radius of forty-five miles. 

Formerly this settlement had been the scene 
of a gold-mine rush, and there are many empty 
cabins still standing to attest to that exciting 
time. At the present writing there are but 
four of the cabins inhabited. This lady is 
the mother of two children, a boy of ten and 
a girl of six. Her cabin is large and roomy, 
and, like the other cabins in this country, con- 
tains but one room. It was, however, well 
filled with suitable furniture and furnishings. 
The big stove was sunken down through the 
floor so that the bottom of the stove would 
be on a line with the floor, to keep the heat 
as close to the ground as possible. An iron 
railing around the stove protected the chil- 
dren and "grown-ups" from stumbling against 
it. In a corner of the cabin was a well-filled 
library, and this with two beds set end to end 
took up most of one side of the cabin. A 
place for cooking, another for a dining-table, 
another for cooking utensils, a corner for 
washing clothes and dishes, with a reservation 



284 THE UPPER YUKON 

for the entertainment of visitors, completed 
the equipment of the house. 

The woman's husband goes by the title of 
"Doctor," although he doesn't hang out a sign, 
nor does he pretend to be a practitioner. Yet 
he always has a generous stock of medicines 
on hand in case of need. He is a game-war- 
den and is known also as a prospector. At 
any rate, the neighbors say that he is very 
often months and months away from home. 
In the meantime, the wife looks after the chil- 
dren and her household duties, besides acting 
as the manager of a road house at which an 
occasional traveler may sometimes ask for 
food and shelter. She does the cooking, the 
washing, and the sweeping up of that estab- 
lishment, and with all of this care and work 
upon her hands, she is light-hearted and ap- 
parently contented. Moreover, if any one 
should be taken suddenly sick, she would be 
importuned to visit personally one of her own 
sex, or to prescribe to the best of her judg- 
ment from her husband's medicine case for 
one of the opposite sex. Asked when she had 
last visited her mother's home in Minnesota, 
she replied, "Not for many years, but I am 
going home when my husband returns." 
Sure enough, when we were on our way "out," 



THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 285 

we saw the tracks of her husband's horse and 
wagon on the trail going back to bring her. 
No doubt she is now with her mother in the 
lovely city of Minneapolis. 

One would think that this earnest woman 
would be lonely and that she would bemoan 
the fate of being shut up in a region where 
she was the only white woman within more 
than a day's journey in any one direction. 
She seemed to me to be particularly pleased 
at being able to do good to others. She had 
a kind and courteous word for all — for white 
men or red men, for white women or squaws. 
She gave advice graciously and helped wher- 
ever she could. Travelers, trappers, and 
prospectors, one and all, sing her praises. "Is 
she not a heavenly saint? No — but she is an 
earthly paragon." She is truly one who hath 
a "cheerful look, a pleasing eye, and a most 
noble carriage." 

The Indian Woman. 

At the foot of this lake — a distance by shore 
of forty-three miles, but much less by boat — 
lives Thomas A. Dickson, the man who acted 
as our head guide. He is a white man and was 
born in Ontario, Canada. He has a fair edu- 



286 THE UPPER YUKON 

cation and was for eight years a member of 
the Northwest Mounted Police — that most 
famous of all mounted police forces in the 
world. It goes without saying that the man 
who "makes good" in this crack corps for that 
number of years must be rugged and strong 
and brainy as well. He is now in his prime, 
being forty-six years of age. He married an 
Indian woman who is without question the 
handsomest woman of her race that I have yet 
seen. She is an adept with the rifle, is skilled 
in trapping, in tanning hides, and in killing 
big game for use on her own table. Her hus- 
band is immensely proud of her, as he may 
well be. There were few days — if any — that 
we hunted together, that he did not speak in 
high praise of her many good qualities. 
Being invited to take dinner at his cabin, we 
accepted with alacrity. Having listened to 
so many encomiums of his wife, we naturally 
were curious to see her. Their cabin was 
built on the same lines as the cabin we have 
previously described belonging to the white 
lady at the head of the lake. There was this 
difference, however. The Indian woman 
had no library and no store of medicines. 
She is a very robust woman with a fine figure, 
is sturdy and strong, and has a most pleasing 



THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 287 

face. Five children call her mother; the eld- 
est one, a girl, was then at an Episcopal col- 
lege two hundred and thirty miles away from 
her home. The other four we found to be 
very quiet and respectful in their manners. 
She spoke to them in the English tongue in 
a low and musical voice, and her orders were 
promptly obeyed. The dinner was prepared 
by her without any undue hurry or excite- 
ment, and the meal set before us was nicely 
cooked and deftly served. The dinner being 
finished, I talked some with her about her 
hunting exploits, and about the dressing and 
curing of hides, all of which work falls to her 
lot. We were shown some caribou hides that 
she had dressed and tanned herself. The 
skins were beautifully tanned, but they were 
full of round holes, and this made them look 
anything but attractive. She explained that 
the holes were caused by the caribou fly. 
This fly appears about the first of November. 
It bites and then burrows into the caribou's 
skin around the neck, and down the back. 
After biting and cutting a tiny hole, the fly 
deposits an egg in it, which in due time 
hatches out and the young fly proceeds to feed 
upon its most unfortunate foster mother — the 
poor caribou — until it is a full fledged fly, 



288 THE UPPER YUKON 

when it takes its departure for parts unknown. 

We were informed that caribou which were 
killed before the month of November would 
be free from fly bites, and therefore the tanned 
hides would be more attractive. 

I was the recipient at the hands of this fair 
woman of a beautiful pair of caribou-hide 
mittens, resplendent with beads and highly 
colored embroidery; also of a large bow with 
several arrows, the points of the arrows being 
made of pure native copper. 

The husband having stepped out of the 
cabin for a few minutes I took the opportunity 
to compliment her upon her cooking; also 
upon the respectful and courteous behaviour 
of her children, and their very healthy and 
robust appearance. As in case of illness the 
nearest doctor would be nearly two hundred 
miles away, and to send out a messenger and 
bring the doctor back with him would take 
about eighteen days if the going was good, I 
asked the woman what she did when the chil- 
dren got sick. 

*'They never get sick," she answered. 

"What, were they never sick?" 

"No, they have never been sick." 

"What about you yourself?" 

"I have never been sick in my life." 



THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 289 

"But what do you do when the babies 
come?" 

"I bring them myself." 

"Had you no woman to come in and help 
you?" 

"No, I bring them myself, — all alone." 

The husband corroborated this statement, 
and he also said that he was away trapping 
when the last two children had been born, 
some three weeks having expired before he 
arrived home to welcome the last baby. At 
that time the cold was intense, the thermometer 
registering nearly sixty degrees below zero 
when the child came into the world, so that 
his wife was compelled to keep the fire going 
in the stove so that the other children as well 
as the new-born one and herself would be 
saved from freezing. 

The calm confidence that this woman pos- 
sessed as to the future health of herself and 
her children was surely inspiring. 

Most of the men in this territory give un- 
stinted praise to the Indian women for their 
extreme care of and their great afifection for 
their children. The Chief often entertained 
me by accounts of his wife's great love for 
their offspring. He would also interest me by 
stories of his wife's skill in shooting the moun- 



290 THE UPPER YUKON 

tain sheep, the caribou, or the moose, and of 
her ability to trap fish and to shoot wild geese. 
When the snow was deep and he couldn't 
cover all of his trapping lines within a reason- 
able time, she would take her husky dogs and 
the sled, and cover one of his trapping lines 
nearest the cabin, say a distance of nine miles 
out and nine miles back, thus making eighteen 
miles in all. She would then take out of the 
traps whatever animals might be caught in 
them, re-set and bait the traps, bring the cap- 
tured carcases home on the sled, and promptly 
skin and cure their hides. 

Our other guide, who is a well-read white 
man, a native of Montana, also married an In- 
dian woman, but we did not see her. On 
being asked nvhy he had married a squaw, he 
said: "For many reasons the Indian woman is 
better than the white woman." Some of the 
reasons he gave were quite startling. Now 
listen, you marriageable girls, and hear what 
this man has to say in favor of the Indian 
wife. 

"My wife doesn't wear corsets, and there- 
fore her body isn't crushed and bent out of its 
natural shape. Neither does she wear high- 
heeled and small-toed shoes. The coming 
and going of fashions do not interest her. 



THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 291 

neither does she run to the stores to see the 
latest styles in hats. She is always well, and 
so are our children, and thus we have no need 
of a doctor. Her three children she brought 
into the world by herself. My wife doesn't 
want to go out to play five hundred, bridge- 
whist, or euchre, neither does she gossip her 
time away with other women. She attends to 
her housework, and takes great care in the 
training of her children. This, together with 
the out-of-doors work that she has to do, takes 
up all of her time. Last of all, the Indian 
woman can be trusted better than the white 
woman." 

We have already remarked upon the fact 
of there being so few married men in this 
country. This condition of things is due to 
there being so few marriageable young women 
in the territory. It takes a long time and a 
lot of money to go out to the States or to Brit- 
ish Columbia to hunt up a wife, and so the 
men doggedly jog on, week after week and 
month after month, until the time comes 
when they must go out to White Horse to 
bring in supplies for the winter. There they 
will see more or less of the fair sex, but ac- 
cording to what several of the men have told 
me, there are but few marriageable young 



292 THE UPPER YUKON 

women in the town, which at best contains but 
about five hundred souls during the summer 
months and three hundred in winter. This 
marriageless condition of the majority of the 
men in the territory is producing the inevit- 
able result of driving a number of them into 
a morbid condition, which after gradually be- 
coming more and more pronounced some- 
times ends in insanity. Four men were taken 
out to an asylum for the insane from this cause 
the very week that we went in. 

Now to return to our Indian heroine. She 
wore "no beauteous scarfs" or other fashion- 
able finery, but she was neatly and plainly 
dressed in a becoming black gown. Her feet 
were incased in well-fitting leather shoes with 
common sense heels. Her hair was nicely 
and naturally done up, and it was clear of 
"rats" as far as we could judge. Moreover, 
her house was clean and showed the earmarks 
of an energetic housewife. 

Now, good reader, do you not think I do 
right in giving this good woman a strong 
mead of praise, even if she is the daughter of 
Indian parents? Don't you now realize why 
her husband is so proud of her as to have her 
in mind every spare minute during his en- 
forced absence from her? This red woman, 



THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 293 

like "Laughing Water" in Longfellow's poem 
of "Hiawatha," has to endure 

"The long and dreary winter, 
The cold and cruel winter; 
Ever thicker, thicker, thicker, 
Froze the ice on lake and river; 
Ever deeper, deeper, deeper, 
Fell the snow on all the landscape." 

Yet she is ever busy, ever cheerful, with her 
hands and mind both at work to help her chil- 
dren and her husband. Well may the men 
of Kluana Lake sing her praises. 

The Business Woman. 

Some time in the latter part of the year 
1897, a man died in the far West, leaving a 
wife and three young sons. After the funeral, 
a revelation came to the sorely stricken wife 
when she found that no money of any moment 
was left her, but that mortgages aggregating 
thirteen thousand dollars covered the property 
that was now hers by reason of her husband's 
death. The interest was due and she had not 
enough money to meet it. Besides this, five 
horses were left as an additional asset to 
augment her troubles, for there was no work 
for the horses and they had to be fed. 



294 THE UPPER YUKON 

The bereft widow was a tall, well-built, 
fine-looking woman who was — and is even 
now — possessed of a rugged constitution, and 
best of all she has a stout heart. For several 
weeks after her husband's death she was in a 
dazed condition hardly knowing which way 
to turn. She might well say: 

"My mind is troubled, like a fountain stirred, 
And I myself see not the bottom of it." 

One day a neighboring woman came to 
make a visit of condolence to the widow. 
After a mutual interchange of opinions as to 
what might be done to bring some revenue 
into the family's coffers, the visitor ventured 
a suggestion. It was a startling one at first 
thought, but the more it was considered the 
better it looked. It was nothing more nor less 
than this: that the widow, being of an un- 
usually strong and robust build, should make 
a journey to a far-off place in Alaska called 
Skagway — a town over a thousand miles from 
where she lived — and there see if money could 
not be made by working at something, but 
what that "something" might be, time alone 
could tell. 

The suggestion, although laughed at when 
first made, took hold of the widow's imagina- 



THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 295 

tion so firmly that she raised the money to pay 
for the long journey, and off she started full of 
hope and yet equally full of uncertainty. 

Arriving at Skagway, which is the door- 
way to the Upper Yukon, her eyes beheld a 
sight that will stay within her recollections as 
long as she lives. Here were thousands of 
men outfitting at this noted town for a hard 
and hazardous trip on foot over the Chilkoot 
Pass, and thence to White Horse where they 
could take boat or raft down to Dawson, 
nearly four hundred miles distant, where the 
great gold-mining craze was then in full 
swing. 

It should be known that Skagway is at the 
end of the famous interior waterway which 
stretches from Seattle and Vancouver to this 
far-famed town. And here came many men. 
There were old-time prospectors ; youths look- 
ing for excitement, adventure, and experi- 
ences; the poor man hoping against hope that 
luck might now come to him; the strong man 
and the weakling; merchants, and men who 
were willing to act as pack-horses for the good 
wages that were being paid. All, every one 
of them, had to pay tribute in some way to the 
town of Skagway. 

There was a trail of eighteen miles before 



296 THE UPPER YUKON 

the hard climb up to, and through, the pass 
began. 

Our heroine, the widow, soon saw where 
she could win out. She sent for her boys, for 
the five horses, and for a strong, serviceable 
four-horse wagon and harness. Her plan was 
a simple one. She would haul supplies at the 
rate of two and a half cents per pound, to the 
foot of the mountain eighteen miles away, 
where the climb over the pass had to start. 
She had been promised all the freight that she 
could haul. In due course of time the boys, 
the wagon, and the five horses arrived. It 
did not take her long to get loaded up with all 
that the wagon could hold, and at 4.30 A. M. 
the next morning she mounted the driver's seat 
herself, cracked the whip, and ofif she drove 
amid the cheers of the populace and of the 
would-be miners. This program she con- 
tinued day after day as long as the hegira 
lasted. In order to make time and save her 
horses, she was compelled to be up at 3.30 
every morning to see that the horses were 
well fed and curried. Her boys helped her 
eagerly; but she was the driver, she was the 
contractor, she was the wage-winner for the 
family. As long as there were supplies to 
haul, she never failed to take up her load, rain 



THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 297 

or shine, through that dreary and weary haul 
of eighteen miles. 

She told me with her own lips that she 
averaged a clear profit of $25.00 per day while 
the excitement continued, and this profit en- 
abled her to pay off a large part of the mort- 
gage on her home. 

When the summer season waned and a 
touch of winter came, the rush dwindled 
away, and the brave-hearted woman had to 
look out for something else to keep the pot 
boiling, for both she and her boys had to live. 

A restaurant was the next venture, and, 
while attending to that, a man who had built 
a new and then modern hotel in Skagway 
called upon her and asked her to manage it. 
She told him that she had no money to risk in 
renting a big hotel, neither did she have the 
necessary experience to run it. The man in- 
sisted that she should go with him and look 
it over, and he would take care of getting the 
guests to fill it. The building and its appoint- 
ments were carefully examined and approved. 
It turned out that the owner had already can- 
vassed the families who were living in Skag- 
way and who were anxious to live in an up- 
to-date and modern hotel and had secured 
enough tenants to fill the house. 



298 THE UPPER YUKON 

Mrs. Harriet Pullen — that's the name of 
this heroine — at once leased it, and she has 
been successful in it ever since. With pride 
she showed me through every room in the 
hotel, including the kitchen. I hardly need 
say that everything was as clean and as bright 
as human hands could make it. Nor need I 
say that Mrs. Pullen is easily the most famous 
personage in this section of Alaska — and this 
applies to the men as well as to the women. 

In the meantime her sons were growing up. 
As they were patterned after their mother as 
to physique and courage, they also attracted 
much attention, and in time her fame, the 
story of her brave work, and of her fine boys 
reached the ears of President Theodore 
Roosevelt. He, with his usual forcefulness, 
lost no time in investigating and confirming 
the tales that had reached his ears. Then he 
acted without dela}^ He sent for the eldest 
son, and being captivated by the boy's mod- 
esty, dignity of manner, and his splendid 
physique, arranged for his admittance into 
the West Point Academy. The youth, being 
a born athlete, soon forged to the front in 
athletics. He w^as elected a member of the 
famous football team and later on became its 
captain. He was also captain of the baseball 



THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 299 

team. More than this, he easily became one 
of the first scholars in his class, and finally 
when he graduated he did so with high 
honors. He is now a Lieutenant in the 
United States Army. The proud mother 
showed me a large album filled with clip- 
pings from newspapers throughout the coun- 
try commendatory of his work as a student 
and as an athlete. 

The second son was educated as an engineer 
and he has also been successful. He is fa- 
mous too, and an other album contains a great 
mass of clippings about his masterful work in 
college. 

When Mrs. Pullen had finished the story of 
her two elder sons, she commenced to talk of 
her ''baby boy." Then her voice trembled 
and the big, strong, noble-hearted woman 
broke down completely. By bits I learned 
that just one month to the day before my inter- 
view with her, which was on the eighteenth of 
October, 191 2, this young man, then twenty- 
two years of age, had been found dead under 
a wharf. A plank had been removed and he 
had apparently fallen through. As he was of 
exemplary habits, the heart-broken mother 
believes that his fall was not accidental, but 
that he was sand-bagged and thrown down 



300 THE UPPER YUKON 

through the opening made by the removal of 
the plank, which was purposely not replaced 
so as to hide the frightful crime. The mother 
wept as she told me that now, as her "baby 
boy" was gone, she felt as if there was nothing 
more to live for. 

She is an accomplished horsewoman and 
she pleased me very much by insisting upon 
my acceptance of a photograph showing her 
mounted upon her famous horse with her 
equally famous St. Bernard dog by his side. 

If any of my readers should ever journey 
through the ever-changing and beautiful scen- 
ery of the wonderful interior waterway that 
reaches up to and ends at Skagway, ask any 
employe on board your steamer, let him be the 
captain or the steward, the chief engineer or 
one of the firemen, a waiter or a common 
sailor, if he knows aught of a Mrs. Harriet 
Pullen, and the man whoever he may be will 
eagerly tell you of the great things she has 
done — of her worth — of her charity — of her 
boys. And long before your boat ties up at 
the wharf in Skagway Bay, you'll be as anx- 
ious as the writer was to see her, and if possi- 
ble to have the honor of conversing with her. 

But now for many a day to come her brave 
heart will be grieving for her lost boy, for his 



THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 301 

"death lies on her like an untimely frost upon 
the sweetest flower of all the field." Yet even 
for her *'I see some sparks of better hope 
which elder years may happily bring forth." 
To her I would say: 

"There will come a glory in your eyes, 
There will come a place within your heart, 
Sitting 'neath the quiet evening skies, 
Time will dry the tear and dull the smart. 
You will know that you have played your part! 
Yours shall be the love that never dies! 
You, with Heaven's peace within your heart. 

Gentle reader, think of this brave woman 
and her trials and her successes, and you may 
find in her history something that will by the 
force of example help you to be brave, cheer- 
ful, energetic, kind, and considerate of others 
as she always has been. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

AN INTERESTING TRIO 

"Things done well, and with a care, exempt themselves 
from fear," 

EACH human life has its own peculiar 
history. The great majority of men, 
however, pass through their earthly journey 
in such an uneventful way that they may be 
said, when the end comes, to have drifted 
along through the shoals and the rapids of 
life unconcerned and unmindful of the fact 
that they should have left some tangible record 
behind them of some work done in the cause 
of helping humanity or of uplifting them- 
selves. 

We had three men with us who deserve 
more than a passing notice. Each of them 
was gifted with the ability to do with ease 
severe and continuous work. With us they 
were ever obliging, cheerful, and uncom- 
plaining. 

Our head wrangler is a man that in han- 
dling his outfit of horses, numbering in all fif- 



AN INTERESTING TRIO 303 

teen, could one minute swear at them as loudly 
as a Mississippi pilot, and the next be as tender 
in talking to his charges as a child playing 
with her doll. Listen for a few minutes to 
the modest history of the struggles and tri- 
umphs of this energetic man. 

Louie Jaquotte was born in Alsace-Lor- 
raine, once a province of France, but now by 
the Treaty of Paris held under the rule of the 
German Empire. He says that their German 
conquerors are bitterly hated by the inhabit- 
ants of this fertile and thickly populated prov- 
ince. Long before he came of age he was 
possessed of a strong desire to leave his native 
heath, and so with many others he resolved to 
emigrate to the ^'promised land." He had 
heard that a big, silver dollar was as easy to 
get in America as a Kreutzer is in Alsace. 
His father, when appealed to for advice, told 
him that he thought he was able to do for 
himself. As the family was large, and the in- 
come small, it was decided that it was best for 
him to go. When the time came to start, the 
father gave him his blessing, and bid him 
God-speed to the land said to be full of gold, 
where there was plenty of room for the indus- 
trious youth to work out his own destiny. 

The boy, like thousands of others, started 



304 THE UPPER YUKON 

alone for the great unknown, equipped with 
hope, ambition, youth, health, strength, and a 
good appetite — all of these attributes being of 
service in helping him on to success. Having 
at home learned the trade of pastry cook, he 
was not long in getting a position in St. Louis. 
From there he went to Chicago, next to Win- 
nipeg, working a while in each city. He 
earned good wages and saved his money. He 
was frugal in his ways, and his wants were few, 
so he soon had a tidy balance in bank. He 
was offered a fine position on a through din- 
ing-car of a train-de-luxe running from Chi- 
cago to the Pacific Coast, but he would not 
accept it until he could bring out from Ger- 
many a younger brother — Eugene by name — 
to take his previous place. This youth was 
also a pastry cook, and ten years younger than 
Louie. 

Eugene arrived at New York in due time. 
Before leaving his home, a friend had begged 
of him to look up a relative who had been last 
heard of in Philadelphia, and so he went to 
the Quaker City in search of a man whom he 
had never seen. 

It is ever amusing when talking to foreign- 
ers in any of the old countries to be asked if 
you ever met a nephew, cousin, brother, or 




Q 



AN INTERESTING TRIO 305 

other relative of theirs in America. You ask 
what part of America. They say that they're 
not sure, but they think he might be in Cali- 
fornia, or in New York, or in Philadelphia. 
They have no idea whatever of the distances in 
this Western Hemisphere of ours. 

So Gene started upon his hunt for his 
countryman in Philadelphia. We will let 
him tell his own story in his own words: 

"When I arrived in Philadelphia I went to 
the Post Office, but no record could be found 
of the man that I was in search of. Then I 
looked through a directory of the city, but it 
contained no name at all like his. Now how 
could a stranger find another stranger and 
both in a strange land? 

"As the man was a weaver, I hunted up the 
district in that great city where the big manu- 
factories are located. I then called on fac- 
tory after factory, first finding the man who 
had the pay-roll under his charge, and then 
going over the names of the employes with 
him. I asked each one the same old question 
— Is my friend working here? — But a long 
search failed to find any trace of him. Day 
after day went by, but I still kept up the 
search from early morning until late at night. 

"One morning I overheard a baker in the 



3o6 THE UPPER YUKON 

street talking to an employe with an accent 
exactly like that of our natives in Alsace- 
Lorraine. I asked him if he knew my friend 
(because the baker was indeed a native of 
my country, and so if the man was really 
there, he might know him). He said very 
quietly, as if my hunt for him amounted to 
nothing at all : 'Oh, yes, I know him well ; but 
he's working now; I'll show you where he 
boards, and you can see him when he gets back 
from work.' When night came I easily found 
him, and delivered my message. I spent a 
couple of days with him in going over the 
news of the home country. In all I lost a 
full week, but I didn't begrudge the time I 
lost or the money spent, because of the joy it 
would give to his people in Alsace. 

Then I hastened away to Winnipeg in 
Manitoba where Louie, my brother, was. 
We had a joyful meeting, and then we got to 
work. We both worked hard. We received 
good wages and saved our money. We were 
not too anxious to quit when the clock struck, 
as most of the other men were, and we were 
always on hand a little before it was our time 
to go to work. Both of us have cheerful and 
willing dispositions to labor as hard as we 
could and we made friends wherever we went. 



AN INTERESTING TRIO 307 

So time galloped along, and the great Klon- 
dike discovery set the northwestern country 
wild, and we were sort of swept into the whirl- 
wind of a gold-mining excitement. We gave 
up our jobs and started for the Eldorado. 

*We 'mushed' it from Skagway to the foot 
of the Chilkoot Pass and packed our stuff over 
the divide. Then we mushed it over moun- 
tains and down canyons until we reached 
White Horse, and oh, what a trip it was to be 
sure! Then we got a boat to take us down 
the Yukon River to the Klondike — the scene 
of the great rush. We got employment at 
once, and made money right along by doing 
anything that we could find to do that would 
pay us good wages. We prospered beyond 
our expectations. When the excitement be- 
gan to subside, we bought up a number of 
horses at bargain prices. We took up some 
gold mining claims on Canyon Creek near 
Kluana Lake. These we work in the spring, 
summer, and winter, and hire ourselves out in 
the fall to hunting parties — Louie as a wran- 
gler or caretaker of horses, and I as a cook; 
at the same time we rent our horses out in the 
fall to do the pack work. So we are prosper- 
ing finely." 

So runs the story of the immigrant. Such 



3o8 THE UPPER YUKON 

tales are always interesting and instructive as 
showing how the assimilation of foreign races 
is accomplished. 

The third member of the trio went by the 
name of Pete, although his real name is Ernest 
Petrel. When a boy of fourteen he ran away 
from his home and birthplace in Racine, 
Ohio. After a wandering experience that 
lasted a year and a quarter, he returned to his 
home. Five years rolled by, and at twenty he 
left his home for good, and now at forty he 
has passed through much excitemen.t and en- 
joys a great store of experience. 

His first journey was to the Indian Terri- 
tory, where he became a cowboy and a herder 
of cattle. He is of such a dark complexion 
that his comrades affectionately call him 
*'Niggsr," and he doesn't feel hurt at the name. 
He has reached the time of life when he be- 
lieves that it is "not good for man to be alone." 
He's searching for a mate. By night and by 
day he's thinking; first of the white woman 
and her city ways, her refinement, and many 
clothes, then of the maiden fair of Indian 
birth. "She's so good and can cook so well — 
so affectionate — so good with the rifle, and the 
bow and arrow — so handy in making fires and 
in helping with the trapping," he says. He is 



AN INTERESTING TRIO 309 

indeed beside himself, and if he doesn't make 
up his mind soon and take unto himself a 
wife, his loneliness may prey upon him so 
hard as really to drive him insane.* 

"Yet ever in the far forlorn, by trails of lone desire, 
Yet ever in the dawn's white leer of hate; 
Yet ever by the dripping kill, beside the drowsy fire, 

There comes the fierce heart hunger for a mate. 
There comes the mad blood clamour for a woman's 
clinging hand, 
Love — humid eyes — the velvet of a breast; 
And so I sought the Bonnet Plumes, and chose from out 
the band 
The girl I thought the sweetest and the best." 

Now these three men, when they finished 
their work with us and left us at White Horse, 
took to the wilds their food supply and other 
necessaries for the winter and settled down to 
nine months of hard, slavish work in the gold 
mine of which each man owns a third interest. 
Here they work in the frozen ground, thaw- 
ing it as they dig ever deeper. It's a hard 
life and a lonely one, but to be a miner means 
a hard life. 

* Since writing the above, Pete came to his home in Ohio 
to see his parents and to hunt a wife, but the man who had 
withstood the low temperature of the Yukon, took cold in 
Ohio. Pneumonia developed and in a few days he was dead. 
Thus passed away one of the most genial and loveable men 
that ever came to the Yukon. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

AN ACCOMPLISHED MOUNTAIN CLIMBER 
"Being a woman, I will play mj^ part." 

WHEN we reached the foot of the big 
lake on our way *'in," while waiting 
for the arrival of the pack horses, we were 
joined by a man named Ed Benson, who had 
traveled from the mouth of the White River, 
which empties into the Yukon considerably 
above Dawson. He is a bright man, a mining 
prospector, and a good hunter. He is well 
read, and is an interesting companion. 

While on the White River he had met Miss 
Dora Keen, of Philadelphia, returning from 
her famous climb of Mount Blackburn in 
Alaska. She was held up for some six weeks 
at the mouth of the White River waiting for 
a boat to come along to take her and her out- 
fit up to Dawson. The boat did not come, but 
a man did. This man had a whip-saw, and 
knew not only how to use it, but, when the 
timber was sawed to the proper thickness, 
length, and breadth, he was able to put it to- 
gether in the form of a boat. 



A MOUNTAIN CLIMBER 311 

On this boat, made in this crude way, Miss 
Keen and her party were able to make the 
slow and at times tedious journey to Dawson 
in safety. Since then I have met Miss Keen 
on two occasions and have heard her lecture 
to a large audience. Her lectures are interest- 
ing and instructive, and as she has many very 
good lantern slides, the audience can, through 
their help, get a vivid understanding of the 
plucky work she did when making her two 
expeditions up this hitherto unclimbed moun- 
tain. 

I have been featuring some women of the 
Klondike, and think it but right and fitting 
to say something about this modest-looking, 
brave, energetic woman of Pennsylvania, who 
in the years to come will be known as "the con- 
queror of Mount Blackburn." 

Miss Keen had one great advantage in the 
fact that she had a ripe experience to help her, 
having scaled some of the noted peaks in 
Switzerland. She was, therefore, better fit- 
ted for her two ascents of Mount Blackburn 
than possibly any one else in the whole of 
Alaska. 

It is nevertheless remarkable that she, with 
her seven men, had the rare courage to start 
alone, determined to win the summit of this 



312 THE UPPER YUKON 

rugged mountain, no matter what hardships 
she had to endure, nor what amount of money 
she would have to spend in getting her equip- 
ment together. Of the seven men who accom- 
panied her, five lost their courage and left her. 
two men stood by her until she was within 500 
feet of the top, then the sixth man slunk away, 
leaving only one who was brave enough to go 
with her to the finish. This man was G. W. 
Handy, a German, living at Cordova, Alaska. 

Her first attempt to scale the mountain was 
made in the previous year, 191 1. She under- 
took this journey in August, but her outfit 
being entirely insufficient, she was compelled 
to beat a retreat, having reached a height of 
8700 feet. 

The next year, on April 22, 191 2, she left 
civilization at Kennecott, Alaska, the end of 
the Copper River Railway. This year the 
dangers and hardships were worse than they 
had been in the previous year, but she had a 
better equipment. Above the base of the 
mountain all of the outfit had to be carried on 
the men's backs. On the fourteenth day out, 
three of the men turned back and left her at a 
height of 8700 feet, and six days later two 
more men, including the leader, left her. 

The chief danger after the last desertion 



A MOUNTAIN CLIMBER 313 

was from sliding avalanches which compelled 
the little party to abandon their tents and dig 
out caves in the snow on the steep slopes for 
safety. A continuous snow storm raged for 
thirteen days, which left no means of drying 
anything, and compelled them to sleep in their 
wet garments. At last the ascent was under- 
taken. It took a week, and had to be made 
entirely at night because of the soft snow and 
the now constant avalanches, three of which 
all but caught the party. With only two men 
left, and with deep, soft snow and no freezing 
at night, only food and bedding could be taken, 
so they had to leave tents and stores behind. 
It was necessary to depend on candles to melt 
water for making soups. The temperature 
ranged from 40 degrees above to 6 degrees 
below zero. 

Miss Keen's was the first mountain climb- 
ing expedition in this country to use dogs and 
snow caves, the first to be led by a woman, and 
the first to succeed without Swiss guides. 

William Lang, a Canadian, is the man who 
turned back when within 500 feet of the peak. 
The summit was reached on May nineteenth, 
and its height was taken as 16,140 feet. 

I verily believe that there is not another 
woman in the "wide, wide, world" that could 



314 THE UPPER YUKON 

be found who would be fitted by reason of her 
physical condition, experience, determination, 
and courage even to make an attempt to climb 
Mount Blackburn, let alone accomplish it, 
without the help of some companion in whom 
she might put her trust, and whose society and 
encouragement would give her additional 
mental strength. Miss Dora Keen has done 
what very few men could do and what none 
have even attempted to do. 



CHAPTER XXV 

THE MORAL 

*'0 Lord, that lend'st some life, 
Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness." 

THIS is an age when books of fiction are 
the popular and current literature of 
the day. Their long-drawn-out tales of un- 
requited love, and of the final circumvention 
of the ''hoary-headed villain" are largely fea- 
tured among the "six best sellers of the 
month." The author believes that the truth- 
ful narration of the incidents of a hunting 
campaign in a section of the north-land that is 
but little known will serve to give the brain a 
rest from the reading of novels, and at the 
same time prove to be instructive and interest- 
ing. He has endeavored to feature life in this 
almost fabled section rather than to give his 
whole attention to the stalking and killing of 
game. The people he met, their aspirations, 
habits, and achievements are to him a never- 
ending source of interest. 

After all, real life is the one great thing that 



3i6 THE UPPER YUKON 

finally appeals to the heart of every one, and 
makes the most lasting impression. In the 
language of David Grayson, "How little v^e 
know — we who dread life — how much there 
is in life." My heart is "replete with thank- 
fulness" that I have been permitted to visit 
and to hunt in so many sections of this good 
old world where comparatively few men have 
had the opportunity to go. I am also thank- 
ful that so far I have always been permitted 
to come back in safety, renewed in health and 
strength, and thus better able to cope with the 
complex demands of a modern business life. 

My writings in the past have always been 
addressed to the man or men who can, if they 
want, take some time from their work or busi- 
ness to spend in the open air, for their own 
betterment as well as for those who are de- 
pendent upon them. The man who keeps 
himself in robust, vigorous health benefits not 
only himself but his family, and the people 
with whom he comes in business contact. A 
feeble, sickly man can bring no happiness to 
any one, only worry and trouble. 

"He sits and mopes in his study chair, 
While others toil in the open air. 
He quaffs iced drinks through the sultry day, 
Electric fans on his person play. 



THE MORAL 317 

*I feel despondent,' he murmurs low; 

*I lack the vim that I used to know ; 

My liver's loose, and my kidneys balk, 

And my knee joints creak when I try to walk. 

I'll call Doc Clinker and have him bring 

His Compound Juice of the Flowers of Spring.' " 

In recent years the developments in the 
study and cure of disease have been wonder- 
ful in extent and in practical results. The un- 
selfish vs^ork of numbers of scientists who have 
given their lives to original research is to be 
largely credited with these results. But 
neither in the past, present, nor future will 
these investigators ever find a panacea for the 
business or professional man which will en- 
able him to have a sound body, a strong heart, 
firm nerves, clear, bright eyes, good digestion, 
and a kindly disposition, when he works all 
day and every day at his office, and perhaps 
in addition burns the midnight oil. When 
this man does take a vacation of a week or two 
he is almost sure to eat heavily, loaf around 
a hotel or on board ship, and take no exercise. 
His muscles become feeble, his resistance to 
disease but slight, his nervous system is apt 
to give way, and he becomees irritable and 
petulant. He feels himself that he is "not 
fit." His family suffers from his condition. 



3i8 THE UPPER YUKON 

and his business is generally affected by it. 
This is not a fanciful picture, but one that is 
unfortunately too true, as the vital statistics 
year after year inevitably show. 

Therefore, my apology for the writing of 
this book — if one is needed — is that I hope by 
picturing the manifold blessings of an out- 
door life, if indulged in even for a brief 
period of time, to stir my readers to a realiza- 
tion of the truth of the adage: 

"Heed now this maxim, lest you go astray, 
Put not off till the morrow — work to-day; 
And be you well assured in life's great hurry, 
That the hunt will cure the ills produced by worry." 

The Englishman, F. C. Selous, the most 
famous hunter in all the world, has this to 
say about hunting: "Ten thousand years of 
superficial and unsatisfactory civilization 
have not altered the fundamental nature of 
man, and the successful hunter of to-day be- 
comes for the time being a primeval savage — 
remorseless, triumphant, full of a wild ex- 
ultant joy, which none but those who have 
lived in the wilderness and depended on their 
success as hunters for their daily food can 
ever know or comprehend." 

The Reverend W. S. Rainsford. who is 



THE MORAL 319 

noted as an African big game hunter, con- 
fesses: "I think I can truthfully say I have al- 
ways enjoyed hunting apart from mere kill- 
ing — the distinction is important. I learned 
to enjoy and value it for the knowledge it 
gave me of a thousand and one useful things, 
and for the opportunities it afforded of study- 
ing them. On the great western plains I 
spent many months as far back as 1868 when 
no white man came, and the whole country 
swarmed with game. I have hunted in the 
forests of New Brunswick and on the barrens 
of Nova Scotia and Quebec, and therefore 
have had much experience." 

It is worthy of note that the hunters, the 
naturalists, the trappers, and the missionaries 
are the first men to open up the wildernesses of 
the far-off lands where big game abounds. 
The hunter inevitably will be in first, followed 
by the trapper and then by the naturalist; then 
comes the missionary, the priest, and the 
bishop. It was the faculty of observation 
combined with the hereditary instinct for the 
open that gave us John Burroughs, Walt 
Whitman, John Muir, and many other natur- 
alists, whose writings and experiences are 
destined to become classics in literature. 

If you would follow the innate instinct 



320 THE UPPER YUKON 

that has come down to you from the genera- 
tions of long ago, and travel over the thou- 
sands upon thousands of miles that the writer 
has hunted over in great areas of the yet vir- 
gin country — 

"I think you would hear the Bull Moose call 

And the glutted river roar, 
And spy the hosts of the Caribou, shadow the shining 
plain ; 
And feel the pulse of the silence, 
And stand elate once more 
On the verge of the yawning vestitudes that call to you in 
vain." 

My story of "Hunting in the Upper 
Yukon" is finished. I trust that something 
I have written will act as a spur to you, who- 
ever you may be, so that you will take to heart 
the great lesson to all business men — 

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." 

"What a piece of work is man! how noble 
in reason, how infinite in faculty" ; yet what 
a fool is he who neglects the great and imperi- 
tive necessity for some genuine re-creation at 
least once a year. 



84 8^1 











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